The Bike Lane Newsletter
in the lane
E-bike popularity, the infrastructure bill and ‘a lot of great wins so far’
June 08, 2023Podcast with Noa Banayan Director of Federal Affairs PeopleForBikes People for Bikes’ Noa Banayan stops by to chat with Jake about policy successes and how her team’s focus largely shifted towards incentives and ways to get e-bikes in the hands…
Ultra-wideband: A feasible addition to D2V safety?
June 08, 2023By Rich Rarey Senior Software Engineer, Bluetooth SME Valtech Mobility Detroit We have long been interested in furthering Vulnerable Road User (VRU) safety at the Valtech Mobility Detroit (formerly Tome Software) Safety Team. Our transmission and reception of SAE Standard…
Let’s talk about safe autonomy
April 30, 2023Podcast with Phil Koopman Professor Carnegie Mellon University Philip Koopman, author, researcher, and Carnegie Mellon University professor, stops by The Bike Lane for a frank chat with host Jake Sigal about why autonomous vehicles’ driving is worse than a 16…
OSU using photorealistic driving simulations with AI to advance VRU-safety research
April 30, 2023A new frontier for virtual edge-case testing to ensure VRU safety in era of autonomous driving By Ekim Yurtsever, Ph.D. Research Associate 2-Engineer The Ohio State University, Center for Automotive Research Our mission at The Ohio State University Center for…
A lively chat about transportation
April 13, 2023Podcast with John Quain Founder, Editor-in-Chief OntheRoadtoAutonomy.com John Quain returns to The Bike Lane for a lively, wide-ranging chat with host Jake Sigal about banning e-scooters in urban areas for safety reasons; dangerous e-batteries; the trend to ‘return to bicycles’;…
Good and bad news from Paris, San Francisco
April 13, 2023By Roger C. Lanctot Director, Automotive Connected Mobility TechInsights Just a week ago, a tiny fraction (less than 10%) of eligible voters in Paris voted to ban rental electric scooters. Once welcomed with open arms by the city’s leaders, these…
The USDOT is forging a new path in VRU safety
April 13, 2023By Brock Aun Vice President of Communications HAAS Alert Although there’s little media coverage or discussion on the topic, the United States is currently experiencing one of the worst periods of roadway pedestrian deaths on record. Last month, the Governor’s…
Saving lives on the road today, tomorrow and for decades to come
March 02, 2023Podcast with Ben Gascoigne Vice President and General Manager PSS Ben Gascoigne stops by The Bike Lane to talk about the PSS engineering and design philosophy employed to make modern traffic control devices that promote roadway work zone safety, temporary…
We were wrong about sharrows
March 02, 2023The former executive director of the California Bicycle Coalition was a key player in the proliferation of shared lane markings. Twenty years later, he’s disillusioned with them. By Dave Snyder Senior Director for Infrastructure PeopleForBikes Editor’s note: This text was…
Making tech for first responders is rewarding, challenging
January 26, 2023Podcast with Cory J. Hohs CEO HAAS Alert Cory Hohs stops by The Bike Lane to talk about his work developing (and building funding for) technology to assist first responders. Safety Cloud by HAAS Alert makes roadways safer by alerting…
Cycling, industry and the future of connected mobility
January 26, 2023By Jana Hrčková Policy Officer CONEBI Working in Europe, probably the most cycling-friendly continent of the world, I have been intrigued to oversee the meteoric rise of the e-bikes in the past years. Only in 2021, more than 5 million…
PSS at ITS with Tome for Project Halo
January 26, 2023By Ben Gascoigne Vice President and General Manager PSS ITS (Intelligent Transportation Systems) World Congress 2022 broke records with more than 6,000 registered attendees from different countries. Patrons descended on Los Angeles to experience educational programs and cutting-edge technology presented…
More bikes, less parking = safer streets
December 01, 2022By Roger C. Lanctot Director, Connected Mobility Strategy Analytics Conflict and controversy have broken out in the nation’s capital over a proposed 2.7-mile bike lane on Connecticut Avenue. On-street parking spaces in Washington, D.C. are expected to be eliminated by…
The case for Guaranteed Basic Mobility
December 01, 2022It’s time to reframe how we think about transportation and mobility — the ability to move freely and participate in society is a basic right. By Tangier Barnes Wright Senior Partnership and Program Manager PeopleForBikes Editor’s note: This text was…
The real value of V2X: Open national data standards
October 27, 2022Podcast with Kellen Pucher Head of Business Development Panasonic’s Smart Mobility Office – Cirrus by Panasonic Kellen Pucher stops by The Bike Lane to describe Panasonic’s early development of C-V2X in Colorado and the real value of the system. Kellen…
The push for pre-competitive standards
October 27, 2022By Jake Sigal Founder and CEO Tome Software Working with a team to make on-road cycling safer has been important to me for years. As it is for many of you, this is personal. In 2016, we were on the…
The importance to transportation systems industry standards
October 01, 2022Podcast with Ed Straub VP Land Systems SAE ITC Ed Straub joins The Bike Lane to discuss the reasoning behind, and importance of, industry standards in Transportation Systems. From the pre-competitive meetings, to the cooperative standards creation committees, to the…
Mobile Device Capabilities for Broadcasting and Receiving VRU Safety Messages Over Bluetooth Wireless Technology
October 01, 2022As cars, infrastructure, mobile devices and accessories all become smarter, the opportunity for improving driver awareness of vulnerable road users (VRUs) such as bicyclists, scooterists, road workers and pedestrians has never been greater. Tome Inc., in conjunction with Ford Motor…
Charging ahead on micromobility policy
October 01, 2022By Noa Banayan, Sam Herr and Leanne Kaplan Editor’s note: This text was first published online by PeopleForBikes on Sept. 21 and is shared in The Bike Lane with permission. Policymakers across the local, state and federal levels are increasingly…
Education, and technology, key in keeping riders safe
August 23, 2022Podcast with Bob Najduk Director of Electronics Trek Bicycle Co. Bob Najduk, Director of Electronics at Trek Bicycle Co., joins The Bike Lane to discuss safety technology for bicycles/scooters/electric bicycles, both current and future. Links mentioned in this Episode of…
UMTRI shaping the future of transportation and mobility infrastructure
August 23, 2022By Francine Romine Director, Marketing and Communications University of Michigan Transportation Research Institute Earlier this year, the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration released their report on early estimates of traffic fatalities and fatality rates in 2021. It was sobering. Fatalities…
AVs and VRUs
August 23, 2022By Umit Ozguner Professor Emeritus Ohio State University At Ohio State University’s Center for Automotive Research, the preeminent research center in sustainable and safe mobility in the United States and an interdisciplinary research center in The Ohio State University’s College…
How safety enables the future of connected vehicles
July 28, 2022Podcast with Roger C. Lanctot Director, Connected Mobility Strategy Analytics Tome CEO Jake Sigal talks with Roger Lanctot about post-pandemic transportation, future of connected cars, and Roger offers frank assessments of regulatory and future car/bike/scooter technologies. As a Director in…
ABCs for VRUs
July 28, 2022By Bob Najduk Director of Electronics Trek Bicycle My entire life, I have been trying to get people to stay active. From a young age, I would organize basketball games in the middle of the street near Detroit. And I…
Protecting roadway workers — the most vulnerable road users
July 28, 2022By David McKee Vice President of Marketing and Government Relations PSS According to the Federal Highway Administration, “vulnerable road users” (or VRUs) are people “who use streets, roads and highways without the benefit of the protection offered by an automobile…
Podcast
Newsletter Archive
- The Bike Lane: Vol. 1 • May 2022
- The Bike Lane: Vol. 2 • June 2022
- The Bike Lane: Vol. 3 • July 2022
- The Bike Lane: Vol. 4 • August 2022
- The Bike Lane: Vol. 5 • September 2022
- The Bike Lane: Vol. 6 • October 2022
- The Bike Lane: Vol. 7 • November 2022
- The Bike Lane: Vol. 8 • December 2022
- The Bike Lane: Vol. 9 • February 2023
- The Bike Lane: Vol. 10 • March 2023
- The Bike Lane: Vol. 11 • April 2023
- The Bike Lane: Vol. 12 • May 2023
- The Bike Lane: Vol. 13 • June 2023
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About The Bike Lane
Welcome to The Bike Lane!
Protecting vulnerable road users (VRUs) is more critical than ever. Fortunately, some of the best in business are building bikes, scooters, and vehicles with connected technology in mind dedicated to this very purpose.
As proud founding members of the Society of Automotive Engineers Industry Technologies Consortia® (SAE ITC) VRU Safety Consortium™ (VRUSC), we created The Bike Lane newsletter as a sales-free zone dedicated to the common mission of making roads safer. The Bike Lane is a place for cross-industry voices to be shared and heard. It’s a forum to explore the tough questions around VRU safety, and how the bike, automotive, and tech industries are responding to those concerns. Our guest bloggers and podcasters are the professionals working actively on projects and programs related to VRU safety. They live and work where the rubber meets the road, literally and figuratively.
As for the Tome Safety Team, we believe that precompetitive software and standards are necessary for safer roads. We ride (and drive), and it’s personal. Our team brings collective experience to ongoing standardization efforts and technology development aimed at protecting VRUs.
With so many great companies working together to achieve this common goal of safer roads, our mission will be accomplished that much sooner. So much progress has already been made, and there’s still much work to do. As this happens, we’ll be reporting it back to you in The Bike Lane!
Stay safe, innovative, and ride on!
Angela Fessler
Director, Safety Team
Tome