Ducati Cruise Control project
Early bench testing of Ducati Cruise Control's independent safety watchdog and its hardware disengagement paths - with the results, and the limits of what they mean.
Anything that can move a throttle has to be able to stop cleanly. Before we develop Ducati Cruise Control’s control behaviour any further, we wanted evidence that its disengagement paths work independently of the main control logic.
The setup
On the bench, the control unit drove a throttle actuator against a spring load while an independent watchdog monitored the controller. We then triggered disengagement two ways: a brake input, and a deliberate watchdog timeout (by stalling the controller).
Across twelve trials each, both paths disengaged every time, with a mean latency of around 40 ms. Again, these are provisional bench figures under controlled conditions — not a validated safety specification.
What this does and does not show
It shows the disengagement paths behave as intended on the bench. It does not show that Ducati Cruise Control is safe to fit to a motorcycle, and it is not a substitute for functional safety assessment. Ducati Cruise Control remains an engineering prototype, unsupported for road or track use.
Test results
- Disengage on brake input
- 12 / 12 bench trials
- Disengage on watchdog timeout
- 12 / 12 bench trials
- Mean disengage latency
- ~40 ms (bench, provisional)
Provisional figures from controlled conditions unless stated otherwise — not a specification.