According to BMW, You Won’t Need a Helmet on This Futuristic Motorcycle
BMW may have just turned 100, but the venerable German automaker isn’t spending too much time dawdling in the past. Instead, the company has spent its centennial looking forward with through its VISION NEXT 100 program — over the course of the year, each of BMW’s brands has unveiled a futuristic concept vehicle that imagines transportation 25-30 years in the future: first BMW proper, followed by MINI and Rolls Royce. Now, BMW Motorrad has completed the puzzle with the reveal of its own forward-thinking motorcycle concept.
While it bears a strong, very welcome resemblance to the light cycles from TRON, the bike — dubbed “The Great Escape” — actually takes many of its design cues from BMW’s first-ever motorcycle, the R32. The black triangular frame, for instance, is a deliberate nod to that original model — though its matte black, textured surface, built from a carbon fibre mix, couldn’t be more wholly contemporary.
The power unit, too, is built to resemble the iconic BMW boxer engine. Built from polished aluminum, it produces zero emissions and extends outwards when in use to enhance the bike’s aerodynamics and protect the rider from the elements.
But the concept’s most impressive new innovation is its self-balancing systems, which uses a built-in gyroscope to keep the bike stable and upright at all times. BMW foresees that, in concert with the on-board digital intelligence, the technology will allow the bike to actively prevent accidents and keep riders safer than ever before.
The technology will make motorcycling so safe, in fact, that BMW wagers that helmets and protective gear will eventually become a thing of the past. In their stead will be an augmented reality visor that displays vital data and suggested lines of travel, and lightweight, flexible clothing that can deliver navigation instructions via vibrations in the arms and legs.
It remains to be seen how many, if any, of BMW’s forward-thinking predictions will come to fruition over the next couple of decades — but if the motorcycle of the future is even close to what they’ve devised, we can’t wait to get our hands on one.
