Press Release

Commsignia announces the OBU Lite for bicycles and micromobility

Published July 19, 2023

Commsignia today announced the OBU Lite vehicle-to-everything (V2X) device for electric bicycles and micromobility to improve the visibility and safety of vulnerable road users in traffic. With the OBU Lite, Commsignia is now offering solutions for the complete V2X-based digital transport ecosystem. 

Road deaths among cyclists are rising at an alarming rate, with fatalities increased by 11 percent in 2022 according to NHTSA statistics. V2X-enabled cars, bicycles and other road users are aware of each other without being in each other’s line of sight, and this mutual awareness means people can make better decisions and avoid injuries from risky or unexpected situations.

The erroneous judgment of drivers represent 40 percent, while errors in perception and detection alone accounted for 23 percent of road crashes – according to an IIHS study.1

The OBU Lite comes in a lightweight form factor optimized for bicycles, primarily aimed at manufacturing partners. The OBU Lite can be integrated or connected to bicycle and micromobility platforms. It broadcasts messages about the cyclist’s position and direction to other road users, as well as receives messages from other vehicles, so that the rider can be alerted to potential hazards by visual, audio or haptic notification.

The OBU Lite joins the global V2X ecosystem of cars, buses, trucks and other vehicles and a growing digital roadside Infrastructure to help prevent collisions with real-time alerts. Commsignia, building on its automotive and smart city knowledge and its experience working with eBike component manufacturers and OEMs, equipped the OBU Lite with its automotive grade, state-of-the art V2X Software Stack with Security which is already used by car manufacturers.

Commsignia provides a number of road safety applications specifically built for providing secure and robust connection between bicycles and motorized vehicles to prevent the most common crashes.

Commsignia’s own V2X applications include:

  • Intersection Movement Assist
  • Left-turn Assist Right-turn Assist
  • Backward Collision Warning
  • Slow Moving Vehicle Ahead
  • Lane Change Assist
  • Reversed Blindspot Warning

A recent Commsignia poll, reflective of U.S. demographics, found that over 50 percent of people would like to have V2X technology in their vehicle. Over 78 percent of respondents expressed worry about bicyclists and e-scooter riders unexpectedly riding into traffic as they are driving.2

Commsignia is working with partners in the bicycle industry to integrate the technology and expects mass market roll-out in the coming years.

QUOTE

Szabolcs
Patay

Chief Executive Officer / Founder

With the addition of the OBU Lite to our portfolio, our offering now completely covers the whole ecosystem. Bicycles are becoming an increasingly important part of transport, but as the popularity of micromobility solutions grows, the number of collisions involving injury or death is also on the rise. We are very happy to see that bicycle OEMs and component manufacturers are interested in our V2X-based solutions, because together we can solve traffic problems once and for all – says Szabi Patay, CEO of Commsignia.

Read about Szabolcs Patay

Commsignia is the largest company focusing on vehicle-to-everything (V2X) technology. We are unlocking the full potential of Intelligent Transport Systems with cutting edge V2X software, hardware and services, so bicycle manufacturers, micromobility providers and carmakers can cost-effectively deliver improved road safety and a better riding or driving experience for their customers. Our V2X ecosystem also allows road owners and operators to gain real-time traffic insights from connected sensors, cameras and V2X-equipped vehicles to better protect a wide range of connected and nonconnected road users and reveal otherwise invisible traffic conflicts. V2X is a necessary component of smart intersections to provide traffic priority services for emergency responders, city fleets, and it’s an essential component for self-driving.

Source 1: https://www.iihs.org/news/detail/bicycle-crash-study-could-guide-design-of-bicyclist-detection-systems

Source 2: https://www.commsignia.com/news/new-survey-shows-a-positive-attitude-towards-v2x-road-safety-aspects/