Trek just announced a very promising development for those of us who share space with the combustion world.
The American company is showcasing an AI-based bicycle-to-vehicle communication system on Ford’s stand at the Consumer Electronics Show in Las Vegas, which they say has the potential to help create safer road infrastructure, augmenting existing B2V technology.
Originally announced in September 2017, Trek and Tome’s collaboration has now expanded the research and development phase of B2V to include automotive and smart-city integrations, with the goal of reducing the number of cyclists killed and injured on the road.
Ford is supporting the work that Trek and Tome are doing to evaluate the technical opportunities and the best user experiences for cyclists on roadways.
Cyclists are an important and growing part of urban mobility and multimodal transportation and B2V will be critical to the future of safer cycling, where vehicles, devices, and the surrounding environment communicate wirelessly.
“Ford has been supportive of our mission to make cycling safer since day one and we all understand how important it is that B2V technology is open and shared,” said Tome founder and CEO Jake Sigal.
“The future for us is moving from a more passive approach to cycling safety and focusing our development on active safety measures,” Trek Electronics Product Manager Scott Kasin said. “We want to ensure that while cyclists have the tools and knowledge to do what they can to create a safer experience, they will now have the enhanced ability to communicate their presence directly to vehicles.”
For B2V, Trek will focus on the rider’s user experience and the electronics available to them that will alert drivers to their presence in potentially-dangerous roadway areas.
Unlike its existing visibility products, Trek B2V-enabled equipment will focus on giving driver alerts directly to approaching vehicles. The software technology will be licensed to cycling and automotive companies as an industry standard. While the technology will initially appear in Trek and Bontrager products, the company intends to publish the results of its development.
