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Video: Could augmented reality make urban cycling easier and safer?

Future Cities Catapult research project proposes five ways technology could improve urban cycling

A research project undertaken by Future Cities Catapult has proposed five uses of technology which could improve the lot of the urban cyclist, reports Dezeen. The ‘speculative prototypes’ deal with challenges including navigation, safety and air quality.

The five mock-ups are all aspects of what the researchers term a "soft infrastructure" for cyclists – which is to say digital information rather than real-world physical developments. Dan Hill, chief design officer at Future Cities Catapult, said that a lot could be achieved in this field.

"Many cities are spending serious money, time and attention on improving the 'hard infrastructure' of cities to make cycling safer, more convenient, more attractive.

"Yet as well as this — and clearly investment in such hard infrastructure is key — there is potential of a soft infrastructure which can be overlaid on existing urban fabric to further support cycling, which takes advantage of contemporary technologies such as wearables, Internet of Things, real-time sensor data, and so on."

The first idea is for an augmented paths network. The team realised that one of the major issues for cyclists navigating an unfamiliar area is when their route changes from a street to an alley or from a road to a park path. The proposed solution would involve a Heads-Up Display, such as Google Glass, through which directions and other instructions could be given.

By a similar means, prompts and hints could be provided based on city surroundings. Landmarks help us find our way around and so it is suggested that visual cues could help us get to learn a new area more rapidly.

The team speculate that improved environmental information could influence route choices for cyclists, specifically with regards to pollution. An air quality sensor could provide real-time data and inform the rider of alternative routes with cleaner air.

The blind spot visualisation idea is simply a projection of a vehicle’s blind spot, although the researchers also point out that machine-to-machine technologies could enable HGVs and buses to be made aware of approaching cyclists.

Finally, the somewhat grandly named ‘route rectification’ concept is a simple indicator which could be mounted on the handlebars of bike share scheme cycles to serve as a direction prompt. The idea is that the indicator would link with the user’s mobile phone to pick up information about where they were going and then let them know when a wrong turn was taken.

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12 comments

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danthomascyclist | 8 years ago
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Is a bus blind spot really that big? What's the point in mirrors if you can't see? Where do they actually look? My car mirrors are adjusted in such a way that I don't have a blind spot until you are almost level with my mirror at which point I can see you anyway. I hope this is an inaccurate visualisation and not representative of real field of views.

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bikebot replied to danthomascyclist | 8 years ago
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danthomascyclist wrote:

Is a bus blind spot really that big? What's the point in mirrors if you can't see? Where do they actually look? My car mirrors are adjusted in such a way that I don't have a blind spot until you are almost level with my mirror at which point I can see you anyway. I hope this is an inaccurate visualisation and not representative of real field of views.

Lots of info over on Tom Kerney's blog (aka @comadad)

http://saferoxfordstreet.blogspot.co.uk/2015/02/guest-blog-by-bus-driver...

http://saferoxfordstreet.blogspot.co.uk/2015/03/guest-blog-no-3-from-tra...

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Beaufort | 8 years ago
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Rebecca Jones....what a dreamboat  8  8  8

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A V Lowe | 8 years ago
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Just watch the video - I thought it was supposed to be useful more like a promotional for Google Glass?

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A V Lowe | 8 years ago
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Powered gizmos are great - as long as you have the power supply available, and one of the prime tenets in the oil industry, where you can have a mass of telemetry giving you real time data on the down hole mud pressure and other key drilling information, is to also keep a good watch at what is happening outside your window.

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paul-ldn | 8 years ago
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"Make cycling, walking and public transport the fastest way from A to B and make driving a pain in the ass ... ... Keep pushing for improvements in infrastructure and be bolder to battle the constant helmet promotion from the safety nannies ... ... People in cars who don't even live in the municipality continue to enjoy free passage down your streets. Italian traffic planners call them parasites. Time to stem the tide ... ..." http://copenhagenize.eu/index/01_copenhagen.html
http://www.copenhagenize.com/2014/07/the-greatest-urban-experiment-right...

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nowasps | 8 years ago
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"Many cities are spending serious money, time and attention on improving the 'hard infrastructure' of cities to make cycling safer, more convenient, more attractive."

Bollocks they are.

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armb replied to nowasps | 8 years ago
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nowasps wrote:

"Many cities are spending serious money, time and attention on improving the 'hard infrastructure' of cities to make cycling safer, more convenient, more attractive."

Bollocks they are.

He didn't say many UK cities are spending money.

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picko | 8 years ago
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Good to see constructive use of new technologies (not that any of this stuff exists yet), but I'm uncomfortable that this is yet another idea which seems to shift the responsibility for safety onto the most vulnerable users, not the ones who poses the greatest risk to others.

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ChairRDRF | 8 years ago
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Oh puhleese...I am in favour of supporting people who cycle in existing conditions , but this is a classic case of "let's forget the real problems of danger posed to cyclists by drivers and let's faff around the side lines avoiding the issue".

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teaboy replied to ChairRDRF | 8 years ago
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Dan Hill wrote:

"Yet as well as this — and clearly investment in such hard infrastructure is key — there is potential of a soft infrastructure which can be overlaid on existing urban fabric to further support cycling".

Well, quite. Do the hard infra first, then overlay this tech for places where infra isn't available.

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jasecd | 8 years ago
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Care, consideration and valuing the lives of vulnerable road users would make urban cycling safer and easier.

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