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 sensors send data to an onboard microprocessor, which then uses complex algorithms to predict a vehicle’s trajectory. “It calculates the relative velocity of the car to the bicycle,” explains Rajesh Rajamani, a mechanical engineering professor who led the research efforts. If the system determines a crash is imminent, the bike sounds a horn in warning.

The aim is to get errant drivers—rather than the cyclist—to alter their course, says Rajamani. “People who have installed sensors on bicycles typically only try to warn the bicycle rider…but nobody has tried to warn the car driver and alert them to the presence of the bicycle.”…

It’s capable of predicting the most common types of bicycle-vehicle collisions—rear-end, rear-sideswipe, right-turn, and left-turn—from up to 30 meters away.
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