Hacking Copenhagen Project: Enabling Bicycles to Sense the City

One of the most complicated and pressing issues in today's urban areas is the increasing tension between the population's demand for more mobility and finite city infrastructure. The Smart City community is looking at ways to help solve this challenge - the first step requiring the digitalisation of mobility services and infrastructure. This will help identify where the barriers are and to prioritise appropriate travel behaviours.

The Bicycle as a sensor: Developing a Connected Cycling Eco-system

The visionary 'Hacking Copenhagen – Bicycles sensing the city' project is being put together by the most innovative companies and researchers in the cycling sector, showing again, the great versatility and potential of cycling. Cyclists of Copenhagen will be equipped with many different sorts of sensors during the ITS World Congress (the main Smart Mobility conference in the world), which will scan the city in real-time, analysing air quality, traffic flow, noise levels and liveability. Decision makers will then use these newly-enabled bicycles with 'Internet-of-Things' (IoT) functionalities as apparatus, to look at innovative ways to improve mobility in the city. For example, enabling digitally-visible cyclists to interact with traffic lights upon approach, providing route suggestions that avoid the most dangerous, congested or polluted streets etc.

A project for the entire cycling industry

The Hacking Copenhagen Consortium is currently being consolidated. This involves finding a mix of disruptive start-ups, global multinationals and everything in-between (such a comprehensive and potentially revolutionary project needs a wide participation of the cycling industry's most innovative companies). This includes Danish infrastructure providers, Dutch traffic management experts, telecommunication giants, British Mobility-as-a-Service and Artificial Intelligence specialists and Austrian app makers etc. 

All participants have the same objectives: 

• to enable cyclists to take advantage of the full potential of connected mobility
• to enable cities to plan and designate urban space more efficiently 
• to enable the industry to have a portion of the large and expanding market of apps, wearables and digital solutions, which are becoming more fascinating every day

This news article was published by ECF (European Cyclists' Federation)