City dwellers are increasingly multi-modal. Commuters might not completely switch to bicycles, or entirely ditch their cars and opt for public transit, but access to real-time traffic data means they can make informed decisions each morning about the fastest way to the office—plus, some employers offer incentives, in exchange for tax breaks, to employees who bike or take public transit. According to the League of American Bicyclists, bike commuting has increased 80 percent since 2000 in “bike-friendly” communities—which provide dedicated lanes or other infrastructure to encourage cycling—and by 47 percent elsewhere.
But the rate of bike-vehicle accidents and fatalities has grown along with participation, which has biking advocates and transportation planners looking for ways to improve infrastructure and education. Technology may play a role in this as well, through vehicle-to-bike communication techniques. Early attempts at this approach, both in the commercial and consumer sectors, are starting to emerge.
Ford and Volvo Marrying Bikes and Cars
It’s not just commuters who can capitalize by using multiple modes of transport. While bike-based delivery services are nothing new, Ford recently announced a concept foldable electric bicycle that, paired (via a customized cargo holder) with Ford Transit Connect vans and a smartphone app, could help courier services or other businesses go multi-modal while also leveraging IoT technology. The system, dubbed MoDe:Pro, features a prototype foldable bicycle equipped with an electric-assist motor and an embedded communication module that allows a rider to receive step-by-step directions through a prototype smartphone app called MoDe:Link (compatible with Apple‘s iPhone 6).
The app triggers the right or left handlebar grip to vibrate as a signal to the rider that he or she needs to make a corresponding turn, while the app also triggers an integrated turn signal on the bike to blink. For “no-sweat” riding, sensors in the handlebars also track the rider’s heart rate and adjust the electric motor’s output to reduce his or her exertion.
An ultrasonic sensor embedded in the bike’s rear cargo rack alerts the rider, via the MoDe:Link app, when a car is approaching from behind. The sensor also triggers a rear light to blink, to make the bicycle more visible to the driver.
With two employees in the van, one could use the e-bike to make deliveries in hard-to-reach sections of a congested urban corridor, while the driver could continue on to make additional deliveries in areas where parking is more accessible. Conversely, a service provider, such as an IT technician or repair person, or a sales person could use the system to park once and make multiple stops, via bicycle, throughout a single area.
Ford is also developing a consumer-focused version of the e-bike concept, known as MoDe:Me, paired with the Ford Focus.
“The e-bike concept is the latest experiment in mobility,” says Alan Hall, a technology communications manager at Ford, “and we’ll be building several prototypes to evaluate our ability to combine electric bikes and cars to support both personal and small-business needs.”
Volvo is also experimenting with using technology to make cycling safer (and more attractive to traffic-weary riders) through collaboration with helmet manufacturer POC and telecommunications company Ericsson, which it debuted in January 2015, at the Consumer Electronics Show in Las Vegas. The project consists of connected car and helmet prototypes that communicate with each other via a cellular link and trigger alerts to both a driver and a cyclist in the event that the cyclist is in proximity to the car. Of course, the idea is that the alerts trigger only if the vehicles are in danger of colliding, such as approaching each other at a blind corner.
(Volvo has already rolled out an anti-collision feature called the City Safety system that can detect, warn and auto-brake in order to avoid collisions. It became standard issue in the company’s 2013 XC90 model.)
An Invisible Shield
Pere Margalef, a French engineer who loves to ride his bicycle and motorcycle, says he thinks a day will come when all car manufacturers will integrate collision-avoidance systems as a standard feature. The only problem, he says, is that he does not want to wait. That’s what motivated him to develop Bike Shield, a smartphone application that triggers alerts to drivers if a bicycle or motorcycle is nearby, provided that the biker or motorcyclist is operating a phone that also runs the Bike Shield app. The app employs a phone’s built-in GPS technology to monitor each user’s location. That data is transmitted, via the Internet, to Bike Shield software, which then delivers an alert to the car’s driver five to 10 seconds before the cyclist or motorcycle becomes visible.
“We send an acoustic warning to the car driver, through his phone,” Margalef explains. “[To signal] for a bike, it’s a ringing bell—it’s very distinct and won’t be confused with the phone’s ringtone—and for a motorcycle, it’s the sound of an idling motorcycle engine.”
The bicyclist or motorcyclist receives no warning from his or her phone, Margalef notes, since that could distract the rider’s attention from the road.
Bike Shield does have some inherent limitations, in that both drivers and riders must have the app downloaded on their smartphones, which must be with them and have the app running at the time. Additionally, a user might often transition between being on a bike or motorcycle and driving a car, and the app needs to know which mode he or she is using in order to work properly. To compensate for a user forgetting to select the mode of transport, Margalef says, the application defaults to driver mode if it detects motion of more than 10 miles per hour.
In this case, if a biker or motorcyclist forgets to set the app’s mode and triggers this default mode based on the vehicle’s speed, the rider would not know until hearing the acoustic signal warning of a nearby bike or car. At that point, he or s she would have to pull over and switch the mode to bike or motorcycle.
The app tracks only the GPS location of each user, which means it does not generate sufficient accuracy to issue specific alerts to a driver, such as that the bike is directly behind, or to the left or right, of the vehicle. However, Margalef says, Bike Shield is working on updates that could leverage Bluetooth Low Energy (BLE) or LTE Direct signals transmitted by a smartphone to support greater location granularity.
To date, the free app has been downloaded 4,000 times worldwide, and Bike Shield is currently running a fundraising campaign, through Indiegogo, which has raised approximately a third of the $25,000 goal, with 18 days to go.
Bike Shield also hopes to work with municipal transportation agencies in order to bring the Bike Shield system to bus drivers. Margalef says he has also nearly completed a promotion agreement with Mibici, a bike-sharing program in Guadalajara, Mexico, which would promote Bike Shield and encourage drivers and bike-share participants to use it to improve safety.
“There are a lot of [bike-involved] fatalities in that city,” Margalef states, “and I think most cyclists are also drivers, and have families and loved ones who bike.” He stresses that the app is no reason for drivers or cyclists to take any less care or pay less attention while on the road, but he believes it can serve as another set of eyes, so to speak, to help prevent collisions.