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Next generation bicycle lights. Be visible, understood and expected by other vehicles, whatever the weather, angle and situation.

Project description

A smart way to reduce accidents between drivers and cyclists

Public transport is not the only alternative to the car and traffic jams. Cycling is now seen as the way ahead for European towns and cities. The bicycle is the most used means of transportation for more than 40 million people in the EU. But they are also the most vulnerable road users since they are relatively unprotected compared to motorists. Keeping cyclists safe is a top priority. In this context, the EU-funded Blinkers project proposes a holistic system incorporating lights and smart sensors to ensure complete visibility and predictability of cyclists. The system increases visibility and predictability when changing directions, as well as predictability when braking, and safety space respected so that drivers do not overtake cyclists. The project will focus on making the Blinkers system compatible with bike sharing systems.

Objective

The usage of the bicycle is increasing worldwide, especially in urban areas. Indeed, the bicycle is already the most used mean of transportation for more than 40 million EU citizens . However, cyclists remain the most vulnerable road users. Statistics clearly show that more than 55% of these accidents occur at crossroads, junctions and roundabouts in urban areas and currently cyclists lack appropriate technical equipment to keep them safe in such common traffic situations.

Blinkers is the first holistic system incorporating lights and smart sensors to ensure complete visibility and predictability of cyclists. Such integration stands out when compared to other safety-related cycling accessories by truly improving visibility and predictability of the cyclist in any situation and from all angles of vision, solving the three cyclists’ fundamental problems in urban environments: 1) Visibility and predictability when changing directions; 2) Predictability when braking; 3) Safety space respected.

To date, we have raised €475K from a crowd-funding campaign and two funding rounds. These funds, together with own funding, allowed us to invest into the development and testing of Blinkers to ensure its robustness and efficiency and move into the commercialisation stage. Within this innovation project we are now aiming at adapting the product to be compatible with bike sharing systems, where it is expected to make a direct contribution to the reduction of fatalities and severity of injuries.

The proposed work in Phase 1 of the SME instrument fits into our overall plan to reach the market by contributing the financial resources needed to plan a fast sound wider deployment of Blinkers and its market uptake.

Call for proposal

H2020-SMEInst-2016-2017

See other projects for this call

Sub call

H2020-SMEINST-1-2016-2017

Coordinator

VELOHUB AG
Net EU contribution
€ 50 000,00
Address
DORFSTRASSE 27
8037 ZURICH
Switzerland

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SME

The organization defined itself as SME (small and medium-sized enterprise) at the time the Grant Agreement was signed.

Yes
Region
Schweiz/Suisse/Svizzera Zürich Zürich
Activity type
Private for-profit entities (excluding Higher or Secondary Education Establishments)
Links
Total cost
€ 71 429,00