OREANDA-NEWS. August 29, 2014. "Knight Rider" on two wheels: Koblenz-based bike manufacturer Canyon Bicycles and Deutsche Telekom have presented the first bike with a built-in emergency call function system at the Eurobike 2014 bikes exhibition in Friedrichshafen.

The intelligent bike senses emergencies and calls the emergency services via eCall, if necessary. GPS locates cyclists who have been involved in an accident and doctors are able to treat them faster. The bike also communicates with the rider: Technical data on distance covered and the state of wear of bike parts are made available via an app, which improves customer service enormously.

A pilot phase covering several months is planned for early 2015 when the partners will put the "connected" bike through its paces. An end-to-end solution already in use at T-Systems in the Connected Car Group business area forms the technical basis for the system. Together with T-Systems, Telekom Deutschland tailored this solution to the needs of the bicycle sector.

Industry 4.0 makes the all-in-one service possible

The solution is built around a communication unit (on-board unit) the size of a small ruler. The unit is fitted with a SIM card, a microcontroller, a movement sensor, and a GPS module. What's more, the bike also has sensors at various points that transmit data to the on-board unit. The precise timing of the next service is calculated based on the distance traveled and the load on the material and transmitted directly to the T-Systems cloud platform via the built-in SIM card. The rider can also access the data relating to the bike at any time via a smartphone app. That means the rider always knows when parts that wear down, such as brake pads, chain and shift cables need replacing and can order the right parts with a single click in the app.

No chance for bike thieves

The entire system is built in the bike frame and therefore invisible to thieves. The bike's owner can monitor its location at all times using GPS via the app or the web interface and can inform the police if it's stolen.

In an emergency, the bike makes the call

The intelligent bike has crash sensors that register heavy impacts or a rapid loss of speed combined with the bike lying on its side. The bike then sends an alarm signal, initially to the rider's smartphone. If the rider doesn't respond, the bike informs a contact person chosen by the rider or an emergency control center by text message via the on-board unit. The nearest emergency services unit is then informed of the location of the accident. Any additional information stored voluntarily by the rider, such as age and any pre-existing conditions, is also transmitted.

Nationwide mobile coverage

Full mobile communications coverage is important for eCall. The key to the whole solution, after all, is its connection to the mobile network – the network has to be operating and has to send the emergency signal reliably. Telekom uses machine-to-machine (M2M) communicationto ensure the eCall data arrives very quickly and reliably. M2M stands for the automated exchange of information between terminal equipment such as machines or vehicles and a control center.