hotbike

I said this was going to happen:

Forbes Article • Bicycle 2 Vehicle Communications

“....The gist is that this B2V standard would operate in ways similar to how V2V communications work, with the bike (or a scooter or an accessory, as they're a part of this, too) sending out standard Basic Safety Message (BSM) signals to automobiles, while also receiving signals from those cars and infrastructure components like street lights...”

steelbikeguy

I like the idea of vehicles having a way to communicate with bikes.. i.e. to detect the bikes and identify them as bikes.
Putting the transceiver (or is it just a transmitter?) in a tail light that you would have anyway seems reasonable.

Presumably vehicles will still be required to not run over pedestrians, so it should be acceptable for a bike to not be equipped with this sort of device. ...right??...

Steve in Peoria

hotbike

Darn it Steve,
Your question raises all kinds of legal repercussions.
Will free transponders , or transmitter beacons, be handed out for free at some point? Police often hand out free bicycle helmets and tail lights, it wouldn’t be too much of a stretch.

Maybe if the driver knows the bicycle will catch up with him at the next light (which happens to be red), he will hold-off from passing in the first place.

Cities have already been cleaned up since the advent of affordable video cameras and cell phones. I don’t know if you know how dirty it was before, in the 70’s and 80’s.

I’m planning on starting a business to supply safety gear for e-bikes and e-bike conversions.
People aren’t exactly standing in line at my front door! It seems these people slap a motor onto their bicycle and safety be damned! No interest in turn signals. Okay, maybe a small percentage installed lights since the last time I checked, and that has to do with the affordability of batteries, LED’s are 98% efficient, and many new lights are USB rechargeable.

V2B will be a great fail-safe, a backup if human eyes fail; who knows, fog or rain , blinding low sun angle, even a driver having a stroke.

Cyclist0108

It will be great when motorists have the ability to simply press a button to send a message to a cyclist, such as "Get the hell off the road. I pay vehicle taxes."

hotbike

I’d happily send them a message back “I paid $32,500.00 in taxes last year “.
How about giving the motorists an estimated time , until the cyclist can safely move over? Road shoulders often have erratic widths, and sphincters. Not to mention parked cars, delivery vehicles, and blind curves. Heck, if drivers knew what was around the blind curve, they might slow down.

steelbikeguy

Anyone designing or selling equipment related to safety needs to understand the legal liabilities. The first person who gets hurt while using equipment that you designed, made, or sold will result in their insurance company sending lawyers out to see if they can sue you.

The discussions that I've seen of V2X focused on dense urban areas where there is a lot of traffic and chaos. My impression is that the first priority is to avoid collisions. If the vehicles know about every other item within a short distance, they can slow down and/or apply brakes before they get too close. I think the system is even tied into the traffic control lights?

I've seen the Velodyne LIDARs used on autonomous mining trucks, as well as the array of small radars that they use to detect nearby objects. It's all pretty complicated, but they have been in operation for a number of years and seem to be okay. Smaller and smaller LIDARs are in development, as well as other vision based systems of detecting items, estimating the range, and identifying the type of item. There will always be some sort of shortcoming, but things are gradually improving.

Steve in Peoria

adamrice 

Pay no attention to the fact that bicycles are vehicles.

hotbike

Yes, thanks for reminding me. Nobody’s sued me yet. It’s in the prototype stage, 19th, working on 20th prototype in my basement laboratory... “beta testers will be eligible to be promoted to engineering student”, and other disclaimers have staved them off...

Preventing collisions is key. Helmets only work if there’s a serious crash! Hopefully there’s no crash to begin with. The aerodynamic fairings which I claim as ‘protective shields’ likewise; the disclaimer reads
“This Protective Shield may NOT be capable of absorbing impacts greater than 5MPH”.

Anyway, CitiBike has protective shields on their handlebars, only they don’t claim it as such. Pretty sure though the actuaries are gathering data as to the efficacy of said shields. If it wasn’t a rental bike, the kids would take it off with a screwdriver because it “doesn’t look cool”... But the rental agreement says the bike must be returned intact, or pay $1,200.00...

JohnJ80

What could possibly go wrong?

unterhausen

As I understand it, the best b2v communication system is called a windshield. Every car has one. People need to use them more.

blacknbluebikes 

While I think the idea has merit, I don't think enough people will care. Also somewhat depends on very large scale of adoption. Risky bet.

bikebikebike

Information overload is a thing. Distracting.
As a grin I count buttons on controllers. My TV stack had 354.
Years ago I rented a Tahoe that had 154 buttons, that I counted after the heated folding seat became a pannini press.
Coordination Cooperation Communication Caring Conscientiousness really can't be delegated to machines
Hard enough getting humans to learn it

Most everyone who has the Varia radar loves it, but look at the challenges it has had, with more limited implementation.

tcs

Panasonic Augmented Heads-Up Display shown at Consumer Electronics Show:



Of course, if the auto driver is staring at their big console touchscreen instead of looking out the windshield...

tcs

Will juries find that cyclists who have not fitted their bike with B2V partially at fault for getting run down?

Iride01 

If it is not required by law, I'd think that unlikely. And if using it or similar keeps more cyclists from getting run over then why not add that to the arsenal of things to help?

steelbikeguy

perhaps? But not until B2V becomes common.
There are analogies with bike lights or helmets. Once it becomes a common piece of equipment, there is an expectation that it will be used.
Also... juries are unpredictable and their decisions are not always based solely on the facts of the case.

Steve in Peoria

adamrice 

I don't think juries will need that as an excuse.

unterhausen

It's virtually never prosecuted anyway unless there is a dui.

My experience with voice warnings in airplanes is nobody pays attention unless it's not there and they crash. Then they blame the crash on the lack of voice warnings. I can just see an alarm sounding and someone with their eyes on their phone in their lap just scans the dashboard to see what's going on and hits the cyclist anyway.

Modern road design has made roads too safe for drivers, so they don't look out the windshield. The way to fix this problem is to get them to look, either through road furniture, chicanes, or some other design feature that keeps them engaged.

Vismund B

I feel like all these new safety features on vehicles (automatic emergency braking, lane departure correcting, steering assist, etc....) can be very helpful and if they prevent collisions then great. But, I also feel like we are giving people a false sense of safety and security and they do not have to be as alert or attentive because the vehicle will take care of the problem for them.

bikebikebike

Hell, where I live (TX) , they can't get bikers to use lights and reflectors.
The last time I saw a somebody use a turn signal, I thought they had a bad brake light.

Loud horns save lives

Have to say I love my Varia.

https://www.caranddriver.com/news/a3...lay-cars-2024/ was a fun read.
A lidar/radar beacon would at least mean I get hit by somebody in a nicer car.