[{"command":"openDialog","selector":"#drupal-modal","settings":null,"data":"\u003Cdiv id=\u0022republish_modal_form\u0022\u003E\u003Cform class=\u0022modal-form-example-modal-form ecl-form\u0022 data-drupal-selector=\u0022modal-form-example-modal-form\u0022 action=\u0022\/en\/article\/modal\/6612\u0022 method=\u0022post\u0022 id=\u0022modal-form-example-modal-form\u0022 accept-charset=\u0022UTF-8\u0022\u003E\u003Cp\u003EHorizon articles can be republished for free under the Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International (CC BY 4.0) licence.\u003C\/p\u003E\n \u003Cp\u003EYou must give appropriate credit. We ask you to do this by:\u003Cbr \/\u003E\n 1) Using the original journalist\u0027s byline\u003Cbr \/\u003E\n 2) Linking back to our original story\u003Cbr \/\u003E\n 3) Using the following text in the footer: This article was originally published in \u003Ca href=\u0027#\u0027\u003EHorizon, the EU Research and Innovation magazine\u003C\/a\u003E\u003C\/p\u003E\n \u003Cp\u003ESee our full republication guidelines \u003Ca href=\u0027\/horizon-magazine\/republish-our-stories\u0027\u003Ehere\u003C\/a\u003E\u003C\/p\u003E\n \u003Cp\u003EHTML for this article, including the attribution and page view counter, is below:\u003C\/p\u003E\u003Cdiv class=\u0022js-form-item form-item js-form-type-textarea form-item-body-content js-form-item-body-content ecl-form-group ecl-form-group--text-area form-no-label ecl-u-mv-m\u0022\u003E\n \n\u003Cdiv\u003E\n \u003Ctextarea data-drupal-selector=\u0022edit-body-content\u0022 aria-describedby=\u0022edit-body-content--description\u0022 id=\u0022edit-body-content\u0022 name=\u0022body_content\u0022 rows=\u00225\u0022 cols=\u002260\u0022 class=\u0022form-textarea ecl-text-area\u0022\u003E\u003Ch2\u003ETwo wheels closer to a safe arrival \u003C\/h2\u003E\u003Cp\u003EMoped or motorbike riders have a 12 times higher chance of dying per kilometre travelled than car drivers, according to researchers.\u003C\/p\u003E\u003Cp\u003EBut one scientist is close to proving that bikers can benefit from the lifesaving autonomous braking technology found in new cars \u2014 and that total motorcycle accidents could be cut by about 30 % by networking the machines with car self-braking systems.\u003C\/p\u003E\u003Cp\u003EThe \u003Ca href=\u0022http:\/\/ec.europa.eu\/growth\/tools-databases\/newsroom\/cf\/itemdetail.cfm?item_id=9029\u0022 target=\u0022_blank\u0022\u003EEuropean Commission published a car safety report\u003C\/a\u003E\u0026nbsp;in 2016 outlining that advanced emergency braking systems should be fitted to all new commercial vehicles, while in 2016 almost all US carmakers \u003Ca href=\u0022https:\/\/www.nhtsa.gov\/press-releases\/us-dot-and-iihs-announce-historic-commitment-20-automakers-make-automatic-emergency\u0022 target=\u0022_blank\u0022\u003Eagreed\u003C\/a\u003E to fit the systems as standard on new cars.\u003C\/p\u003E\u003Cp\u003EDr Giovanni Savino from the University of Florence, Italy, was the principal investigator of a research project known as ABRAM, which last year finished testing automated emergency braking in motorcycles.\u003C\/p\u003E\u003Cp\u003E\u003Cspan\u003ECompared to cars, motorcycle automated braking is a much more complicated process, one which has to take into account stability dynamics on two wheels.\u003C\/span\u003E\u003C\/p\u003E\u003Cp\u003EUsing a motorbike fitted with remote-controlled braking, his team watched with bated breath as riders reacted to the experience of minor triggered braking, equivalent to that caused by cutting the engine.\u003C\/p\u003E\u003Cp\u003E\u2018Given all of the constraints of this, the interesting result was that for most of my subjects, the braking was even too mild,\u2019 Dr Savino said. \u2018Their common reaction was, \u201cIs this all?\u201d\u2019\u003C\/p\u003E\u003Cp\u003EHe says the riders could easily handle up to a 5 kilometres per hour decrease, mimicking situations where the emergency brake triggers just before an unavoidable crash on a straight road.\u003Cblockquote class=\u0022tw-text-center tw-text-blue tw-font-bold tw-text-2xl lg:tw-w-1\/2 tw-border-2 tw-border-blue tw-p-12 tw-my-8 lg:tw-m-12 lg:tw--ml-16 tw-float-left\u0022\u003E\n \u003Cspan class=\u0022tw-text-5xl tw-rotate-180\u0022\u003E\u201c\u003C\/span\u003E\n \u003Cp class=\u0022tw-font-serif tw-italic\u0022\u003E\u2018We have everything we need for it to be implemented very soon.\u2019\u003C\/p\u003E\n \u003Cfooter\u003E\n \u003Ccite class=\u0022tw-not-italic tw-font-normal tw-text-sm tw-text-black\u0022\u003EDr Giovanni Savino, University of Florence, Italy\u003C\/cite\u003E\n \u003C\/footer\u003E\n\u003C\/blockquote\u003E\n\u003C\/p\u003E\u003Cp\u003EWhile 5 kph could mean the difference between life or death, or at least, less severe injuries, Dr Savino says the benefits of this have been hard to quantify because speed impact survival curve models don\u2019t yet exist for motorbikes.\u003C\/p\u003E\u003Cp\u003EBut this may change in a few months\u2019 time when a collaboration he\u2019s working on, known as Safe2Wheelers, publishes its data on the potential of speed reduction in mitigating head injuries \u2014 findings which could be validation enough to kick-start development.\u003C\/p\u003E\u003Cp\u003E\u2018What we can certainly say is that we have everything we need for it to be implemented very soon. Potentially, we could even have it tomorrow,\u2019 said Dr Savino.\u003C\/p\u003E\u003Cp\u003E\u2018We already have the hardware and high-performing sensors, but everything rotates around customer acceptance and what the industry will be happy to feature in future models.\u2019\u003C\/p\u003E\u003Cp\u003EAnd this explains why ABRAM was tested only for unavoidable crashes on straight roads.\u003C\/p\u003E\u003Cp\u003E\u003Cstrong\u003EInevitable\u003C\/strong\u003E\u003C\/p\u003E\u003Cp\u003EDr Savino argues that riders are more likely to accept automated braking that triggers only when its sensors see that a crash is inevitable, and says that their progress towards this has gradually caused motorbike manufacturers to start paying attention to the technology.\u003C\/p\u003E\u003Cp\u003EBut something else that has him excited is the potential of networked traffic, which could see motorcycles wirelessly linked with cars that feature automatic braking systems.\u003C\/p\u003E\u003Cp\u003EIn small-scale, preliminary research, Dr Savino\u2019s algorithms unearthed arresting figures.\u003C\/p\u003E\u003Cp\u003E\u2018Imagine a future, connected world of vehicles that can communicate and know where each other are going. I did, and tried to analyse real multi-vehicle crashes as if a car had been equipped with autonomous emergency braking and was networked with a motorcycle.\u2019\u003C\/p\u003E\u003Cp\u003EEven without causing the motorcycle to brake, Dr Savino says 50 % of the crashes he analysed could have been completely avoided by braking the car as soon as an impending collision was sensed.\u003C\/p\u003E\u003Cp\u003E\u003Cstrong\u003EVital signs\u003C\/strong\u003E\u003C\/p\u003E\u003Cp\u003EAnother European-born prototype\u0026nbsp;\u003Cspan style=\u0022font-size: 13.008px;\u0022\u003Ealso focuses on transferring technology from cars to vulnerable motorcyclists, in this case, integrating emergency call systems into motorbike helmets and safety garments.\u003C\/span\u003E\u003C\/p\u003E\u003Cp\u003E\u003Cfigure role=\u0022group\u0022 class=\u0022@aligncenter@\u0022\u003E\n\u003Cimg alt=\u0022Sensors on helmets and garments could call emergency services and give a GPS position in the case of an accident. Image courtesy of Ludmilla Parsyak, \u00a9 Fraunhofer IAO\u0022 height=\u00221532\u0022 src=\u0022https:\/\/horizon-magazine.eu\/research-and-innovation\/sites\/default\/files\/hm\/iVITAL.jpg\u0022 title=\u0022Sensors on helmets and garments could call emergency services and give a GPS position in the case of an accident. Image courtesy of Ludmilla Parsyak, \u00a9 Fraunhofer IAO\u0022 width=\u00224748\u0022\u003E\n\u003Cfigcaption class=\u0022tw-italic tw-mb-4\u0022\u003ESensors on helmets and garments could call emergency services and give a GPS position in the case of an accident. Image courtesy of Ludmilla Parsyak, \u00a9 Fraunhofer IAO\u003C\/figcaption\u003E\n\u003C\/figure\u003E\n\u003C\/p\u003E\u003Cp\u003E\u003Cspan style=\u0022font-size: 13.008px;\u0022\u003EBut rather than acting like a glorified hands-free headset, the technology developed by the EU-funded i-VITAL project features vital signs sensors and accelerometers, which can recognise crash situations through deceleration analysis. They can then automatically call emergency services via the connected smartphone app.\u003C\/span\u003E\u003C\/p\u003E\u003Cp\u003Ei-VITAL project coordinator Dr Rafael Maestre explains that encoded data in these calls give emergency services information like the crashed motorcyclist\u2019s GPS position \u2014 and a vital link.\u003C\/p\u003E\u003Cp\u003E\u2018We are also planning to include a link to a remote server, a shortcut to give emergency staff real-time measurements of things like a biker\u0027s pulse and consciousness.\u2019\u003C\/p\u003E\u003Cp\u003EWith this, emergency services better know what to prepare for and how urgent medical attention is. Motorcyclists can also continue talking to emergency staff if they are able to, even when immobile.\u003C\/p\u003E\u003Cp\u003EDr Maestre, a researcher with Spanish research centre CETEM, says riders in their focus groups stressed the need for reliability on long trips \u2014 and especially for battery life.\u003C\/p\u003E\u003Cp\u003EThus, the EU-funded project integrates wind-powered charging to run the vital signs and accident-detection-sensor electronics in its NZI helmets, and clothes-optimised sensing electronics are included in biker garments from Dutch firm Lookwell.\u003C\/p\u003E\u003Cp\u003EThe two-year project finished with fully functional prototypes in 2015 and Dr Maestre estimates that developmental funding could bring their solution to market in three years.\u003C\/p\u003E\u003Cp\u003EAnd although the current aim of i-VITAL is reducing fatalities after crashes happen, he says sensors like the heart rate monitor \u2014 along with speed and acceleration data \u2014 could eventually be used to help prevent crashes before they happen.\u003C\/p\u003E\u003Cp\u003E\u003Ca href=\u0022http:\/\/bit.ly\/newsalertsignup\u0022 target=\u0022_blank\u0022\u003E\u003Cimg src=\u0022https:\/\/horizon-magazine.eu\/research-and-innovation\/sites\/default\/files\/hm\/news-alert-final.jpg\u0022 width=\u0022983\u0022 height=\u0022222\u0022\u003E\u003C\/a\u003E\u003C\/p\u003E\u003Cp\u003EHe believes the technology they\u2019ve developed could also have applications in all situations where helmets are required, such as in firefighting, construction sites and even the military, but says that the most elegant possible adaptation of their technology could be the simplest.\u003C\/p\u003E\u003Cp\u003E\u2018For example, in a very similar field \u2014 cycling. We might have many challenges here in adapting the technology, as motorbike and cycle helmets are rather different, but it wouldn\u2019t be difficult to have a bicycle-optimised system with the same or similar functionality.\u2019\u003C\/p\u003E\u003Cp\u003E\u003Cem\u003EIf you liked this article, please consider sharing it on social media.\u003C\/em\u003E\u003C\/p\u003E\u003C\/textarea\u003E\n\u003C\/div\u003E\n\n \u003Cdiv id=\u0022edit-body-content--description\u0022 class=\u0022ecl-help-block description\u0022\u003E\n Please copy the above code and embed it onto your website to republish.\n \u003C\/div\u003E\n \u003C\/div\u003E\n\u003Cinput autocomplete=\u0022off\u0022 data-drupal-selector=\u0022form-7l47ehakkv9tm33iepwvxxo6c5so3brdtqifnew-6sg\u0022 type=\u0022hidden\u0022 name=\u0022form_build_id\u0022 value=\u0022form-7l47EHaKKV9TM33IePWVXXO6C5sO3BRdTQiFnEw-6sg\u0022 \/\u003E\n\u003Cinput data-drupal-selector=\u0022edit-modal-form-example-modal-form\u0022 type=\u0022hidden\u0022 name=\u0022form_id\u0022 value=\u0022modal_form_example_modal_form\u0022 \/\u003E\n\u003C\/form\u003E\n\u003C\/div\u003E","dialogOptions":{"width":"800","modal":true,"title":"Republish this content"}}]