Bike-mounted sensor could boost the mapping of safe cycling routes

Summary

Studies have shown that many people don't commute by bike due mainly to a fear of being hit by cars. A new bike-mounted proximity sensor has been designed to help such folks, by objectively telling them which streets are the safest for cyclists.When you look up cycling routes on platforms such as Google Maps, the safety of those routes is based mainly on the number of bicycle-automobile collisions that have been reported on them.Unfortunately, this means that a significant number of such accidents have to occur before a route is deemed unsafe. It also doesn't take into account the smaller "fender-bender" collisions that don't get reported.Mapping platforms additionally base their recommendations on the perceived safety of different streets, as self-reported by cyclists. This is a rather subjective approach. After all, it's certainly possible that motorists may actually tend to give cyclists plenty of space on busy roads that are perceived as being dangerous, while passing dangerously close on quieter "safe" streets.That's where the new ProxiCycle sensor comes in. It's being developed at the University of Washington, by a team led by computer science and engineering doctoral student Joseph Breda. The device could cost less than US$25 per unit to build using off-the-shelf componentsBreda et al./CHI ‘25 The prototype device simply replaces the bike's existing left-side handlebar plug, where it uses two infrared-light-based time-of-flight sensors to monitor the spaces directly beside and immediately behind the bicycle. Whenever an object is detected, the ProxiCycle utilizes a Bluetooth module to transmit the sensor data to an app on the cyclist's smartphone.That app uses a special algorithm to determine if the detected object was an automobile, and if it passed less than 1 m (3.3 ft) from the bike. If the reading meets both of those criteria, it is saved as an example of a motorized vehicle that passed the cyclist too closely.The idea is that over a relatively short per...