Reliable and low-cost cyclist collision warning system for safer commute on urban roads

摘要

Collision warning and avoidance is a well-established area of research for the automotive industry. However, there is little research towards vitally important collision warning systems for cyclists, who are increasingly jeopardized by motorists on urban roads, especially as quiet, fast electric vehicles become more popular. This paper describes the hardware and software of a low-cost collision warning system for cyclists. Installed on the back of a bike seat, the system consists of a single-beam laser rangefinder and two ultrasonic sensors that detect oncoming vehicles from behind, two handlebar eccentric mass vibrators that provide left and right haptic feedback to the cyclist, and a taillight that warns oncoming vehicles. Executed by an Arduino microcontroller, its software consists of a fuzzy rule-based inference system (FIS), which computes the collision risk and generates appropriate warning signals in a similar way to how a cyclist would assess collision risk based on the distance, velocity and direction of an approaching vehicle. The device was prototyped and statistically evaluated by a survey taken from a pool of seven participants. The participants tested the system before and after receiving initial training. The experimental results demonstrate the efficacy of the proposed system in warning cyclists in an intuitive manner, without distracting them.