Cycling can be fun, but it can also be a dangerous sport. A record 846 bicyclists were killed in motor vehicle crashes in the U.S. in 2019—the secon

Smart Bike Predicts Cars' Trajectories, Honks To Warn of Impending Crash

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2021-06-19 12:30:05

Cycling can be fun, but it can also be a dangerous sport. A record 846 bicyclists were killed in motor vehicle crashes in the U.S. in 2019—the second highest number in three decades. And a further 49,000 were injured, according to the latest figures from the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration.

To reverse this trend, a slew of safety measures have sprung up in recent years: more bike lanes and apps to help you find them, smart lights and helmets, devices that send out your coordinates in a crash, just to name a few.

Now, there might be one more to add to that list. A team of engineers from the University of Minnesota have created a new smart bike they claim can protect itself from collisions. The invention was described in a recent publication of IEEE Control Systems.

The prototype pictured above is a specially outfitted e-bike, tracks nearby vehicles using a suite of sensors: a low-density lidar at the front can scan for cars at an upcoming intersection, while two lasers (one at the rear, the other on its left side) keep tabs of cars behind and beside it.