They will check whether car electronics see motorcycles. This is a problem today

Cars today are equipped with a multitude of electronic driver assistance systems - from those that improve safety to those that ensure comfort. However, as it turns out, they often do not detect motorcycles. In Europe, they want to change that.

In modern cars, radars, lidars or cameras monitor the road around the vehicle. Thanks to them, it is possible to detect the risk of a collision and initiate autonomous emergency braking. What's more, they provide a level of driving autonomy that supports the driver. We are talking about, for example, adaptive cruise control or a lane keeping system. All this is supposed to improve safety. It turns out that if there is a motorcycle on the road, then not everything is working properly.

As far back as 2016, the Dutch State Institution for Vehicles on Roads (RDW) showed that systems such as adaptive cruise control do not always correctly detect motorcycles. It turned out that if the two-wheeler is driving along the edge of the lane, the system may not notice it. As a result, during many tests, the driver had to react to avoid a collision.

Since then, both the RDW and FEMA (Federation of European Motorcycle Associations) have been lobbying to change the testing standards for autonomous systems in cars in Europe and around the world to better detect motorcyclists. Finally it worked. From 2023, Euro NCAP will also test cars in this respect.

All additional tests are to remain in the program, and the new ones are to take into account the detection of pedestrians, cyclists and motorcyclists. In this way, Euro NCAP will check whether electronic systems are safe for less protected road users.