Self counter steering Honda Gold Wing patent revealed

[MotoNews]

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A patent has been found that shows Honda is working on an advanced steering system that can counter-steer the bike is it slides

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[Hosstage]

Who needs this? Who wants this? I'm pretty sure I do not want my motorcycle to be able to steer on its own, last thing I need is an unexpected steering input while riding.

[Joe Frickin' Friday]

15 minutes ago, Hosstage said:

Who needs this? Who wants this? I'm pretty sure I do not want my motorcycle to be able to steer on its own, last thing I need is an unexpected steering input while riding.

 

If you're about to slide out and fall on your ass, then an unexpected steering input might be a lifesaver. 

 

At first I thought that if a bike has ABS and traction/stability control, then it already has what it needs to correct an incipient slide.  That works for a car, since it can manipulate power and braking independently to each of the four wheels to correct a developing yaw problem.  In some cases a car's ESC system is actually applying brakes or power to certain wheels to counteract yaw rotation, even if the driver's feet are not on the pedals.  But the situation is a bit different on a two-wheeled bike.  If you're not braking/powering, and one or both wheels are starting to slide out from under you, how do you recover?  Even if your bike is equipped with ABS and traction control, you're probably going to need to steer into the skid. 

 

"Steer into the skid" is easy to express in writing, and quite possible for well-practiced racers to do on the track where they're expecting slides to happen, but much harder for casual road riders to do in the real world when it's unexpected.  When a skid like that happens to you in the middle of a Sunday afternoon ride, can you reliably detect and understand what's happening, and apply a timely corrective steering input?  A computer that detects a slide starting before you can, and responds by applying the right amount of steering correction before you can, might be a good thing.

 

I understand the feeling of not wanting unexpected third-party inputs interfering with your control over your vehicle.  I used to feel that way about electronic stability control in my car interrupting my skids, so in my previous car (rear-wheel drive), I generally drove with it turned off.  I scoffed at YouTube videos of people crashing their cars because they couldn't correct a simple skid.  I grew up with a rear-wheel drive car, and told myself I could handle skids.  And I was right - I could handle skids at modest speeds, when I was expecting them.  Did it a lot on purpose, had fun with it.  Turns out I could not handle skids at high speeds when they happened unexpectedly.  Five and a half years ago when I was accelerating down an on-ramp at about 60 MPH, the rear wheels broke loose...and my brain locked up.  By the time I mentally accepted what was happening, it was too late to do anything about it.  The car kept rotating until it did a full 180, rear-ended a guard rail, and rotated some more to end up facing forward before coming to a stop.  Wiped out 35 feet of guardrail, which folded up and came into the car.  If I had had a passenger with me, they would have been decapitated:

 

 

I crawled out of the wreckage without a scratch, but the whole experience really messed with my head for a long time.  I no longer drive without ESC, and I'm not so flippant when I see others crash because they couldn't control a skid. 

 

I hope Honda succeeds with their effort to develop active skid correction for motorcycles, and that it saves lives.  There's no guarantee that it'll work well or won't be annoying, but I'm going to withhold judgment until I see what they come up with.

 

 

[Hosstage]

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