22 November 2016 Artificial Intelligence Project: Latest News

Announced at the 2016 Intermot Motorcycle Show by the President of Kawasaki’s Motorcycle and Engine Company, Kenji Tomida, the motorcycle Artificial Intelligence project is making progress.
Part of Kawasaki’s Rideology philosophy and envisioned to be used first on a planned prestige motorcycle not yet in production, the base concept is to facilitate greater interaction between rider and machine and create a stronger, unique bond between the two.

With the research and development department of KHI working alongside Japan’s SoftBank group, the team are working on what they term an Emotion Generation Engine with a Natural Language Dialogue System.

They are currently considering areas such as audible traffic congestion updates, suggested riding routes and motorcycle condition status. The project has a wider, more social, capability too with repeated interaction between machine and rider allowing the motorcycle to develop a unique “personality” in tune with the riding style of the rider.

Delivering the potential to highlight events such as ride-outs and motorcycle gatherings, the scope of the Artificial Intelligence project – which is still in its early stages – is revealing many exciting possibilities to enhance the riding experience further still.

In an attempt to illustrate these first tentative steps, KHI has created a short animation that shows just some of the possibilities currently being explored. As yet the details of the machine and rider interface, plus the actual scope of the project, are still being decided. One thing is for sure, the possibilities are clearly fascinating.