Honda files patent for a motorcycle that's controlled by the mind!

HONDA has filed probably one of the wildest patents of the year, with an idea for a motorcycle that is partly controlled directly by the power of thought.

Honda CMX1100 Rebel video reveal

Now, let’s get this straight; all motorcycles are already controlled by the ‘power’ of the mind. We think and our brain sends messages to our limbs that control the bike. This latest patent though shows that Honda thinks there is a more efficient way to do it, with signals from the brain directly affecting the bike’s behaviour.

The wacky idea is not that you think ‘left’ and the bike steers to the left, this system is more about changing the bike's settings and assistance systems. Within the rider’s helmet, there are a set of neural sensors that can pick up the stream of thoughts from the rider’s brain. The messages are then sent to the bike’s onboard computer which, we’re guessing, deciphers the messages and adjusts the required setting in accordance with the demands of the rider.

Oddly, for Honda, the patent mentions some pretty extreme, and illegal in most regions, riding manoeuvres such as wheelies, stoppies, burnouts, and drifts! Good look trying to get away with any of those on a Honda new bike launch… I digress. For all of this to work, the bike is going to have to be set up with super-sophisticated data accumulation systems, and we aren’t talking just about an IMU.

Before a rider pops the front or rear wheel of a bike up in the air, there is a highly complex set of calculations that take place in the rider’s brain. They analyse their speed, distance to the next vehicle or bend in the road, lean angle – if any – and what the angle of the steering head is at. All these questions are answered in a split second, I’m not sure I trust electronics to do all that!