Not sure if this is the right community for this, but I see plenty of electric motorcycle stuff here, so I’ll bite. Message me if this is the wrong place for this content.
Anyways, really? AI? On a motorcycle? Isn’t the entire point of motorcycles feeling the freedom of manipulating your machine to do what you ask of it? Without any AI and data selling nonsense? Please don’t let this be the direction of motorcycling.
AI is powerful has a place in many areas. Just keep it out of motorcycles, a hobby defined by skill, freedom, and most importantly, fun.
Give us electric motorcycles whose tech adds to the experience, not tries to turn it into a IoT data harvesting device, please.
Not sure if this is the right community for this
There’s been a number of posts here about e-motos, so I don’t see a problem. Welcome!
IMO, AI is as much a buzzword as it is nebulous: the term previously was thrown around for AI designed products, where the only AI used was in the CAD software and not in the product. And now it seems to be used to mean “has added smarts”. But it’s not like stuff didn’t already have features which would properly be termed “adaptive”, which is what I think most of these so-called AI components on these motorbikes are.
If AI means network-connected, data harvesting frivolities, I agree that I wouldn’t want it, whatever it’s called. But if it means adaptive features to road or environmental conditions, that’s more sensible.
There was a FortNine video recently – I promise y’all I’m not shilling for them, even though I do link a lot of their videos – about when (pre electric) motorbikes grew to be so capable that the rider is the limiting factor. This suggests that everything since then is having to grapple with the user’s idiosyncrasies. In a very broad sense, adaptive technologies could potentially prevent rider errors while still keeping true to the two-wheel experience.
On the off-topic matter of AI public policy, I would like to see a GDPR or CCPA style regulation for built-in network connectivity for mobile devices, including automobiles and micromobility. In the same way EU and California residents can now opt-out of data collection on websites, I believe the same should apply for physical products. Often, there isn’t a choice to extricate oneself from the data harvesting, or even just turn the networking device off, due to artificial limits imposed by the design.
Company-ending fines for data privacy violations, voluntary opt-in with no bundling to basic use-cases, and mandates for modular or removable/replaceable networking would go a long way. Heck, even just a removable SIM card slot would accomplish the latter goal and we’ve had that technology for decades.
/endrant
I like tech in motorcycles as long as it expands on the experience and doesn’t try to control it. ABS, toggable traction control, power modes, etc all give the rider more control over their motorcycle and can tailor the settings to what they want.
Meanwhile, “AI” in motorcycles seems like a way for the motorcycle to do things the rider doesn’t expect or want, or give lots of annoying warning sounds like the Vinfast VF8 (an awful car with terrible execution of the tech), all while harvesting data the rider was forced to agree to have sold to have the motorcycle move. (I don’t have to sign a T&C on my GZ250!)
Now, I’m not knocking AI everywhere. The term gets thrown around way too much, but it can have genuinely useful features. I watched the Galaxy Unpacked event today and most of their new AI features have tangible benefits. Much better than “oH lOoK tWo MoRe CoLoRs FoR AlWaYs On DiSpLaY, pLs UpGrAdE [while the update secretly adds new tracking]”
I don’t know what function or component they’re thinking of putting “AI” into, but I will make it absolutely clear that I will not have any function whatsoever of my motorcycle not to be under my personal and direct control, period, end of discussion.
There will be no “fuzzy logic,” there will be no “adapting to gathered user data,” there will be no “decision making tree.” There will be no subscription. There will be no app. There will be no tracking. There will be no phoning home.
I will be in full control of my vehicle at all times, in all circumstances, without exception. And if that is too much for you and your stupid fucking startup to comprehend I will not be buying your motorcycle.
The only time I’m okay with tech taking over the control is when the bike is slipping out of control in the first place. (This is ABS and TC, which already exist don’t need any “AI”!)
Even then, you’re still in control. ABS may have kicked in because you pulled the lever. If you let go of the lever, the brakes stop braking. If you let go of the throttle, power stops getting applied to the rear wheel. ChatGPT or whatever the hell did not decide to brake for you, is the point.
And your ABS and traction control work the same way in the same conditions every time. No AI algorithm is trying to “self improve” and in the process changing the way the machine behaves behind your back without your knowledge. That sort of thing is dangerous enough in a car, but it’s positively suicidal on a bike.
