Premium Italian motorcycle OEM contributing rider-safety expertise across adaptive ADAS, impairment detection, and biomechanics of protective equipment.
Ducati Motor Holding is Italy's iconic premium motorcycle manufacturer, headquartered in Bologna, known globally for high-performance sport and superbike models. In EU research, Ducati contributes industry expertise and real-world product context — bringing the perspective of an OEM that must translate research findings into road-legal, commercially viable motorcycles. Their H2020 participation focuses on two rider-safety frontiers: detecting and compensating for impaired rider states using intelligent vehicle systems, and improving the physical protection offered by riding gear such as helmets. As an industrial partner, Ducati provides product knowledge, testing infrastructure, and a direct route from research prototype to market application in the powersports sector.
ADASANDME (2016–2020) placed Ducati at the centre of adaptive ADAS development specifically tailored to detect rider impairment — inattention, drowsiness, and stress — and adjust HMI accordingly.
ADASANDME explicitly addressed HMI design for automated and semi-automated two-wheeler scenarios, an area where Ducati's OEM product experience is directly applicable.
PIONEERS (2018–2021) engaged Ducati in research on next-generation protective equipment, including helmet design informed by biomechanical impact modelling.
Across both projects Ducati serves as the industrial end-user that grounds safety research in real product constraints and rider scenarios, a role consistent with their position as a premium OEM.
Ducati's H2020 engagement began (2016) squarely in the vehicle-intelligence space — adaptive systems that sense the rider's cognitive and emotional state and adjust the motorcycle's behaviour or alerts in real time. By 2018 their attention shifted toward the physical layer of rider safety: the protective gear worn on the body, studied through biomechanics and materials science in PIONEERS. This suggests a broadening safety strategy, moving from in-vehicle electronics outward to the full rider-safety ecosystem. The trajectory is coherent: a manufacturer that first asked "how does the bike react when the rider is impaired?" then asked "how does the gear protect the rider when a crash occurs?"
Ducati appears to be building a comprehensive rider-safety research portfolio — combining active (ADAS, HMI) and passive (protective gear, biomechanics) safety dimensions — which positions them well for future projects bridging connected vehicles, wearables, and crash-protection standards.
Ducati participates exclusively as a consortium partner rather than a project coordinator, which is typical for large industrial OEMs that contribute product knowledge and validation capacity rather than leading basic research agendas. Their two projects suggest they selectively join well-defined consortia where their motorcycle-industry perspective adds clear value, rather than scattering across many calls. With 43 unique partners across 11 countries from just two projects, each consortium was broad and international, indicating Ducati is comfortable operating in large multi-actor collaborations.
Ducati has engaged with 43 distinct partner organisations spread across 11 countries through only two projects, reflecting the large consortium structures typical of RIA transport calls. Their network spans European research institutes, universities, and likely other automotive or mobility industry players, though no geographic concentration is evident from the available data.
Ducati is one of very few globally recognised motorcycle brands active in EU research, giving them a unique combination of brand authority, production-scale engineering knowledge, and direct access to real-world rider data that academic or tier-2 supplier partners cannot replicate. For any consortium targeting powered two-wheeler (PTW) safety, inclusion of Ducati signals credibility to reviewers and opens a direct path to OEM adoption. Their focus on both active safety electronics and passive protective gear means they can bridge research communities that rarely collaborate — ADAS engineers and protective-equipment materials scientists.
