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App developed to turn traffic lights green as cyclists approach

Academics at the University of Oregon say it could eventually trigger a "green wave" for bike riders...

Academics at a university in the United States have developed an app for cyclists that turns traffic lights green as they approach, which they say could ultimately help trigger a “green wave” that enables people to ride along busy bike corridors quickly and efficiently.

The app, called Bike Connect, was developed for $200 using off-the-shelf hardware and software by two professors at the University of Oregon. One, Stephen Fickas, specialises in computer and information science, the other, Marc Schlossberg, in city and regional planning.

The pair obtained a $67,000 grant to test the app, which has its origins in an ‘Internet of Things’ class taught by Fickas.  

10 cyclists tried it out over nine months in partnership with the university’s home city of Eugene, which installed a device to communicate with the app at a traffic signal on Alder Street, a popular cycling route to and from campus.

“We wanted to find a way to make it more convenient and easier for people on bikes to get through a transportation system built for and optimised for motor vehicle traffic,” said Schlossberg.

Here’s how it works. As a cyclist approaches the traffic light, an indicator on the app turns from grey to yellow to notify them that it had been alerted of their presence and speed.

Once the traffic light turned green, so too would the indicator, or the phone could be set to vibrate to inform the cyclist of that.

Speaking of his experience of using the app, Schlossberg said: “It was awesome.”

According to Fickas, who pointed out that the sample size was small, during the trial the app worked 80 per cent of the time – when it didn’t, that was usually because a motor vehicle or another cyclist were already at the junction waiting for a green light.

He pointed out that many cyclists would be unaware of the existing, buried loop detectors that trigger traffic lights when a vehicle passes over them, meaning instead they may push a pedestrian crossing button or take the risk of riding through a red light.

The academics also said their app aims to highlight the profile – and legitimacy – of cyclists in urban transport systems of the future, where autonomous cars will be able to communicate directly with traffic signals and other infrastructure.

They are now looking for funding to take the concept further, perhaps through developing a small device that could be mounted on a bike’s handlebars and indicate to the cyclist whether they should speed up, slow down, or maintain their pace as they approach a traffic light, thereby harnessing that sought-after green wave.

Simon joined road.cc as news editor in 2009 and is now the site’s community editor, acting as a link between the team producing the content and our readers. A law and languages graduate, published translator and former retail analyst, he has reported on issues as diverse as cycling-related court cases, anti-doping investigations, the latest developments in the bike industry and the sport’s biggest races. Now back in London full-time after 15 years living in Oxford and Cambridge, he loves cycling along the Thames but misses having his former riding buddy, Elodie the miniature schnauzer, in the basket in front of him.

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11 comments

Avatar
hedgey | 5 years ago
1 like

Needs of the many???? Wake up. We are on the verge of environmental tipping point. More cyclists and people on the planet that drivers.

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froze | 5 years ago
2 likes

This is utter nonsense!  We don't need to be having lights changing all the time just because of cyclists, if I remember correctly there are a lot more cars then there are cyclists anywhere in the US, and thus the needs of the many outweigh the needs of a few!   So now we're going to cause gridlock traffic on city streets because of cyclists wanting to change the signals?  And you think some motorists hate us now?  Wait till this nonsense becomes public and then all the motorists will hate us!!  It'll be open season on cyclists.

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LastBoyScout | 5 years ago
0 likes

Probably work brilliantly for a handful of cyclists, but fall flat on it's face when you've got many of them approaching the same junction from different directions onto what should already be synchronised lights.

And then you have buses, which can already have some priority at sets of lights and it'll just get messy.

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Bmblbzzz | 5 years ago
0 likes

According to Fickas, who pointed out that the sample size was small, during the trial the app worked 80 per cent of the time – when it didn’t, that was usually because a motor vehicle or another cyclist were already at the junction waiting for a green light.

Sounds like a very quiet junction they tested it on; probably wouldn't even get a traffic light in most UK towns. 

 

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pmurden | 5 years ago
0 likes

The bottom line is  it doesn't really hurt for anyone to wait at traffic lights. Others will try and steal the technology as unfortunately that's our species MO. It will bring even more hate to cyclists which is the last thing we need. There are enough road users out there thinking they should have priority, let's not join them eh?

Avatar
RobD replied to pmurden | 5 years ago
0 likes

pmurden wrote:

The bottom line is  it doesn't really hurt for anyone to wait at traffic lights. Others will try and steal the technology as unfortunately that's our species MO. It will bring even more hate to cyclists which is the last thing we need. There are enough road users out there thinking they should have priority, let's not join them eh?

If you're a driver following a cyclist, unable to safely overtake, the fact that they're able to trigger traffic lights to turn green would be an advantage to you, you may be doing <20mph but you won't be stopping at a red light.

However, getting drivers to realise things like this is much harder, there's still plenty who speed, only to catch up to the back of the queue in front/Red light they wouldn't make either way etc. It seems that for most drivers the perception of speed makes them feel they are getting there more quickly, despite the fact that usually when I'm driving behind them I catch up to them at every queue or junction etc 

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jacko645 | 5 years ago
1 like

I can't see it really working in busy areas, surely the lights are already synchronised with each other to let traffic flow efficiently and prevent gridlock. I can't imagine letting cyclists randomly interrupt the sequence is going to work that well.
What would be useful though would be some way to stop a green light going red if a cyclist is going to reach it in the next 10 seconds or so. Minimal impact to the traffic light sequencing but would reduce the number of times you have to lose all your speed then accelerate up to speed again.

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Morat | 5 years ago
0 likes

Nothing I can see at present. Perhaps it could be make to disable itself over XX mph. Or something.

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hawkinspeter | 5 years ago
3 likes

So, what's to stop a motorist from using this?

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Butty replied to hawkinspeter | 5 years ago
0 likes

hawkinspeter wrote:

So, what's to stop a motorist from using this?

It sounds like the app helps cyclists trigger traffic lights when they haven't run over the loop detector? This would speed up their journey up by not having to wait for a vehicle to run over the loop and switch the lights.

Avatar
jh27 replied to Butty | 5 years ago
2 likes

Butty wrote:

hawkinspeter wrote:

So, what's to stop a motorist from using this?

It sounds like the app helps cyclists trigger traffic lights when they haven't run over the loop detector? This would speed up their journey up by not having to wait for a vehicle to run over the loop and switch the lights.

 

Faulty/misconfigured detection loops make some traffic lights completely unusable for cyclists (I wonder how well they work for carbon bikes and/or bikes with carbon wheels), but I don't think mobile apps are the answer.  If they are adding technology to traffic lights with loop detectors, then what I would like to see is:

 a: Some sort of visual confirmation when a detection event has been recorded i.e. just like you get 'wait' sign when you press the button on a toucan crossing.

 b: Better detection (maybe camera based - given that they will probably already have cameras fitted for enforcement purposes)

 c: A push button for when detection fails.

 

 

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