Nov 2020

The Active Cruise Control from Bosch for BMW comes to the market to bring comfort and safety to driving. Although the automobile sector has been incorporating this system in more and more models for almost a decade, in the world of motorbikes it’s a novelty.

We must not confuse this ACC (Active Cruise Control) with the Cruise Control that has already been implemented for several years in some motorbike brands and models. The Cruise Control allows us to set a certain speed, and simply by touching the brake lever, it’s deactivated. This program provides comfort when facing long-range routes as it allows us to release the tension on the accelerator lever.

Active Cruise Control goes one step further. It incorporates a decisive element since, in addition to setting the chosen cruising speed, it reacts to the detection of an obstacle in front of the tracking field.

BMW explains this in its manual:

“The electronic speed control with integrated distance regulation allows you to set the desired speed and distance from the vehicle in front. The radar sensor at the front of the bike determines the distance to the vehicle in front by means of turning frequency and speed. When you slow down, the system slows down and automatically adjusts the desired distance again“.   

It is important to make a brief parenthesis to detail that the ACC sensors only respond to moving vehicles, not stopped ones. In this way we can prevent them from working continuously in traffic jams, at traffic lights or similar.

Another detail of the system is the inertial detection that acts, for example, when entering a curve, and responds by reducing the speed so that the inclination is not excessive or too abrupt. This reduction is progressive and is self-regulating at a lower or higher speed depending on the inclination detected.

Finally, the ACC setting allows us to choose between two regulation options: Comfort and Dynamic. This detail can be pre-selected. When it detects the object (vehicle at a lower speed) it goes into action by reducing the speed and recovering it more or less quickly.