Besides swapping gasoline with batteries, and combustion engines with brushless electric motors, integration of radar technology in motorcycles seems to be the next big thing. So far, KTM, Yamaha, BMW, and Honda have been very busy developing their own unique radar technology for their motorcycles.
Ducati already offers it in the Multistrada V4. Piaggio – the parent company of Vespa, Aprilia and Moto Guzzi – has also joined the radar bandwagon and will be deploying the technology as early as next year.
Piaggio teamed up with Israel-based radar systems developer, Vayyar, with the intention of developing a radar system not only for their flagship motorcycles, but also for small Vespa Scooters.
Similar to other brands, this system puts safety in priority. The suite of sensors allows for the inclusion of features like collision warning, blind spot detection, and even oncoming (rear) vehicle detection warning.
Radar on Chip (RoC)
According to sources, Piaggio will utilize Vayyar’s Radar on Chip (RoC) design which is quite affordable to produce and is compact in size. It also promises a field of view range of over 100 meters, and uses MiMO (multiple input, multiple output) technology, similar to that of wifi, and operates in the 60-64GHz and 76-81GHz frequency ranges.
Once perfected, Piaggio plans to offer the radar system to other motorcycle manufacturers to make riding safer for everyone.
