BMW Motorrad has announced the introduction of Active Cruise Control into its motorcycles. 

Having “smart” cruise control options have been in cars for some time now but has neglected to find its way into the motorcycle market until now. BMW Motorrad has teamed up with Bosch to create Active Cruise Control (ACC) that will adjust speed with moving cars and with cornering. The new ACC will allow riders to not only set their cruise control speed but also the distance in which they prefer cars in front of them. ACC will also adjust speed in corners when a comfortable lean angle is achieved. However, BMW says that the braking and acceleration dynamics will be limited in order to maintain a stable rideablility and not to disrupt the rider by any abrupt movements. 

ACC will offer two selectable control characteristics: Comfortable or dynamic, these two settings will adapt the acceleration and deceleration behaviour of bike while ACC is on. The distance control can also be deactivated when in the Dynamic Cruise Control setting.

This doesn’t mean ACC will completely control your ride, BMW maintains that the system still leaves the responsibility with the rider allowing them to intervene at all times. The ACC also only responds to moving vehicles. Meaning that in heavy traffic, or at traffic lights it is the rider who will still maintain full braking and acceleration power.