Test of motorcycle use cases

Over the summer CMC performed a comprehensive test of a number of important
C-ITS safety applications for motorcycles at the Aldenhoven Testing Ground near
Aachen/Germany. The purpose of the test was to evaluate possible accident
scenarios between a motorcycle and a car and to check the system settings in
order to best inform the driver and rider how to mitigate dangerous situations.

Preparations for the CMC test

Motorcycle approaching information is a key safety feature
A typical situation that motorcyclists experience is when a car approaches from a
side road on to the main road where the motorcyclist has priority. It can often
happen that the car driver slows down but doesn’t completely stop his vehicle. In
which case the motorcyclist is unsure, if the car driver has seen/recognised him
and the question is whether the rider should brake, and possibly risk another
dangerous situation for vehicles following him? To help avoid such critical
situations, the motorcycle and car communicate to each other and the car driver
receives an indication/warning message to watch out for the motorcycle on the
priority road.
In order to make this happen, cars and motorcycles have to exchange standardized
messages, called CAM and DENM messages which includes comprehensive set of
information about vehicle status, such as speed, direction and/or the braking
situation. To enable this communication to take place, CMC specialists have
programmed software and tested it in laboratories. Verification however needs to
be done in ‘real world’ scenarios and the Aldenhoven testing ground provides
perfect surroundings with a variety of road layouts to check the systems.

Typical scenario : the car driver might not see the motorcycle

Warning timing is crucial
The precise time when actually to warn the vehicle users is a highly important
factor. In other words, when has the motorcycle rider or car driver passed a critical
threshold and when is it required to show the warning in both the motorcycle and
the car? If warnings come too early, confidence and acceptance of the system will
be undermined. If a warning comes too late, everyone can imagine the
consequences! CMC tested several scenarios over a number of speeds to validate
the assumptions made in the laboratory. Calibrations to the systems were done on
the spot and setups were improved during the testing sessions.

With connectivity the car driver gets a warning on the dashboard

EEBL – brake light indication very useful
The so called EEBL (Electronic Emergency Brake Light) application was also tested
in Aldenhoven and proved being very useful. With this system, the motorcycle rider
receives information on the dashboard when another vehicle is undergoing hard
braking and this is particularly useful if there is no direct line of sight, for example if
a truck is between the braking vehicle and the motorcycle. This way the rider can
be warned earlier, to avoid rear end collisions.
CMC added important fine tuning to the algorithms being developed and optimized
the best suitable timing for the warning to be issued to the motorcycle rider.