This editor is one of those drivers that’s caught in a dilemma regarding the bicycles versus vehicles topic. Trying to ease off congestion and being just a tad healthier by riding a bicycle to work is pretty fine by me, but I simply can’t stand bicyclists that cut you off ignorantly or ride in front of you on the slow lane.
Alas, the duality regarding bicyclists is fairly hard a topic to discuss with your petrolhead and two-wheeled buddies sitting at the same table. Heck, the good and bad points between the two fronts will never stop, which is why Jaguar Land Rover wants to make both sides step on a sort of middle ground.
Dubbed the Bike Sense, this is an all-new safety technology still in its infancy, similar to Volvo and Ericsson’s real-time accident prevention system. Currently in development, Bike Sense can identify hazards that the driver cannot ignore to see.
A plethora of sensors fitted to various parts of the car work together at all times, detecting and instantly computing whether a potential accident situation involving a bicyclist or a biker may happen. If such a scenario is detected, the system uses lights and sounds that are associated with the potential danger.
If the driver of the vehicle is too ignorant to those signals, the Bike Sense active safety technology will make the accelerator pedal vibrate or feel stiff, so the driver instinctively knows not to floor it or perform a maneuver until the hazard has been avoided. Bike Sense can also help by warning all the vehicle's passengers of an approaching cyclist, ultimately vibrating the door handle to alert them of the danger.
After a 1:43 scale model of a Ferrari 250 GTO sparked Mircea's interest for cars when he was a kid, an early internship at Top Gear sealed his career path. He's most interested in muscle cars and American trucks, but he takes a passing interest in quirky kei cars as well. Full profile
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