In recent years there have been substantial efforts made by both public and private organizations in attempts to enable higher standards of road safety. These campaigns have focused on a wide range of factors, including seat belts (usage, form and type), speed (warnings and increased levels of control), and driver fatigue (roadside warnings etc), to name but a few. In addition to these campaigns, the majority of automotive companies have been continually and rigorously testing for ways to improve the safety for both road users and pedestrians, utilizing strict guidelines including Euro NCAP, striving to develop safer vehicles, utilizing roll cages, multiple airbags, driver assist devices (fatigue warnings, lane assist, blind spot monitoring etc). These developments have not exclusively been for cars, heavy goods vehicles and quadricycles, but have also included motorbikes. One example of this can be seen through the 2012 legislation passed by the European Commission outlining the mandatory fitting of ABS on all new motorcycles above 125cc that was implemented from 1 January 2016 .
These technical advancements and developments in increasing safety clearly demonstrate that there is a clear need and indeed precedent for two wheeled vehicles to follow. One such factor to consider is the critical importance of reliable and effective braking in both bicycles and electronic bikes (e-bikes: whose popularity has been continually growing and filling the gap between motorcycles and pedal bikes).
We are Vidrasoft, a company established in 2002, specializing in automotive electronics, automotive mechatronics and automotive informatics. To reflect this trend in two-wheeled transport safety we have developed a game changing hydraulic type of anti-lock braking system (ABS) for bicycle applications. The functionality of the prototype system has been verified on several real road surface conditions (such as dry and wet asphalt, gravel and dirt roads) in a relevant environment.
