Ducati is working on a radar system for its motorcycles which is aimed to further enhance the rider safety. Christened the Advanced Rider Assistance Systems or ARAS, the assistance systems will increase rider safety levels via a number of sensors, including radars. These, in particular, are able to provide feedback on the surrounding environment – helping to prevent possible collisions with obstacles or other vehicles by alerting the rider.
Ducati started developing these systems as early as 2016, in conjunction with the Department of Electronics, Information and Bioengineering of the Politecnico di Milano University. The study has led to the development of a warning system based on a rear radar, able to identify and point out vehicles present in the “blind spot”, or traffic approaching at high speed from behind. A patent application was filed concerning the system control algorithms, and a Scientific Publication was presented at the IEEE – Intelligent Vehicles Symposium (IV) on June 11-14, 2017, at Redondo Beach, CA, USA.
Again in 2017, the Italian manufacturers selected a primary technological partner to ensure system suitability for production – by completing the package with a second radar sensor positioned at the front. The purpose of this device will be to manage the adaptive cruise control, allowing a given distance (which can be set by the user) to be maintained from the vehicle in front, and warning the rider of any risks of distraction-related head-on collisions. All these systems, together with an advanced user interface designed to alert the rider to any existing dangers, will be available on one of the Ducati models coming in 2020.