BOSCH is testing anti-slide technology that could stop bikes from crashing by borrowing a technique used by astronauts to navigate in zero gravity.
The technology is relatively simple. When the bike begins to slide and fall, Bosch’s system will use pressurised gas thrusters to repulse you straight back up. The idea is that this counteracts the sliding wheel, enabling a rider to re-stabilise the bike so they don’t have a low-side.
The gas is pushed out of the bike’s thrusters, providing a motive force in much the same way a spaceship will use its thrusters to push its body in the opposite direction. In this case, it’s the sliding wheel that the thruster is designed to counteract.
Downside is that it seems that if you have one fall, and Bosch’s gas repulsion is activated, you’ll have to shell out for the tech to be fitted again. It can’t be reused, much like an airbag. That said, it’s still only in its test phase, so Bosch might find a way of building in reusable tech by the time it’s actually ready for the real world.
