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from the everyone-must-carry-a-radio dept.
Trek joins with Ford to propose bicycle to vehicle communications, as an addition to already proposed vehicle to vehicle and vehicle to infrastructure communications.
http://www.velonews.com/2018/01/news/trek-takes-a-high-tech-approach-to-save-cyclists-lives_454307
The system connects vehicles to a larger communications system, which means cars can communicate with other vehicles, pedestrian devices, bicycles, roadside signs, and construction zones.
A cyclist would ride with B2V-enabled equipment, initially manufactured by Trek or Bontrager. Or, he or she could have a mobile app with C-V2X. The driver would then be alerted by their car when a cyclist is present in a potentially dangerous area.
Trek partnered with a company named Tome, who also add in the buzzword, "AI-based" to make sure you know that they are really with it. No mention of the power requirements for this system, and how they can be met within the extremely small power capability of a bike rider, or even the small battery system used on e-bikes.
(Score: 3, Interesting) by Grishnakh on Wednesday January 10 2018, @10:23PM
Studies sponsored by Ford ? Everything I've read is that damage is proportional to an exponent of weight (4th is usually cited here).
I was about to respond with the same thing. WTF? It's common knowledge that tractor-trailers cause immense damage to roads, and that's the very reason they have weigh stations, because if they're overloaded they cause even more damage. Obviously, heavier is worse, and an F-350 is a whole lot heavier than a Prius. I suppose this is neglecting the idea of pressure, which can vary depending on the vehicle weight and how many tires it's spread over and how wide those tires are, but still, the idea that a Prius is as damaging as huge pickup truck is just ridiculous. (And similarly, huge pickup trucks are nothing compared to semis.)
I agree with your proposal. People should be encouraged to drive smaller, lighter cars for many reasons, not only road damage, but fuel usage, the damage they cause to other vehicles in collisions, etc. And charging a plate fee is administratively very, very simple, unlike the absurd complexity that comes with having GPS devices in everyone's car and trying to accurately monitor all that data.