This Honda motorcycle can stay upright all by itself!
With the help of a gyro sensor and rear-wheel swing mechanism (that makes it looks like it’s wagging its tail) the Honda stays upright!
The weird and wonderful things tend to always come out of Japan, don’t they? Here’s the latest in Honda safety technology, a motorcycle that’s equipped with a self-righting ‘riding assist’ that makes it wag its tail and stay upright!
In order to keep everything balanced, a gyro is heard whirring away and working the swingarm and front end of the bike to keep it all upright.
Have a look at the video below to see what I mean:
ホンダの安全技術を紹介します。二輪車の姿勢制御「ライディングアシスト」です。ジャイロセンサーや車体後輪揺動機構などを備え、自立したまま倒れません。驚きです。#ホンダ pic.twitter.com/Leo5B60zU0
— CAR GRAPHIC (@CARGRAPHIC) November 25, 2021
How cool is that! Well, I guess it depends if you think this is the start of our ‘Terminator motorcycle overlords’ taking charge of the roads, but this could have huge benefits for motorcyclists who aren’t quite able to keep a heavier motorcycle upright by itself when stopped in traffic.
Self-balancing riding tech is nothing new, though. In fact, you’ll likely have seen Honda’s very own ‘Riding Assist-E’ which was developed off the back of the NC750 ‘Riding Assist’ concept.
That ‘Riding Assist-E’ could very well be what we end up seeing as Honda’s first foray into the electric motorcycling segment, which they are no doubt working on as we speak.
Is there a market for self-balancing motorcycles like this Honda?
Interestingly, Harley-Davidson filed a patent in 2020 for self-balancing motorcycle tech, so we wonder if there is any crossover here.
The Honda engineer is likely applying a tiny amount of pressure on the handlebar to get it to shake its rear end, but I wonder if it would survive a kick like those Boston Dynamics Robot things? Probably not.
