Rider Safety at the Forefront: Canyon Predict Bike and Helmet

The new Canyon Predict will be unveiled at the Eurobike show in Frankfurt this coming week, offering the integration of AI to enhance rider safety.

Don’t let the bike’s sleek and powerful design distract you from its key feature, which is safety. Canyon’s Predict system uses cameras, radar signals and Edge AI to see obstacles and warn the rider accordingly.

Much like the lane-assist technology in modern vehicles, the Predict bike will provide vibration and flashing lights on the lever hoods.

This intelligent safety system transforms bicycle safety from reactive to predictive by continuously perceiving the environment, understanding context and anticipating hazards in real time.

Through the fusion of data from various on-bike sensors and integration of rider dynamics such as speed, steering, and stability, the system builds a situational model that goes beyond surrounding traffic. As an example, the bike’s 360-degree multi-modal sensing (camera + radar + distributed sensors including a multi-dimensional motion sensor in the DT Swiss wheel hub) can suggest cornering speeds while alerting you to upcoming unsafe road surfaces.

In critical situations, the rider can intervene through more than just slamming on the brakes. Adaptive hardware such as allowing the rider to remotely drop the seat post can lower the rider’s centre of gravity, improve their stability, and ultimately increase their control before a crash may happen.

And rather than relying on cloud computing, which introduces latency and privacy risks, the platform processes data entirely on the bike via Edge AI.

“We considered the numbers of people killed or seriously injured while riding, or the numbers who simply don’t cycle because they don’t feel safe, and we asked ourselves what we could do to address this problem,” said Canyon’s head of design Fedja Delic.

“Cars have become inherently safer and motorist deaths over the last ten years have fallen but bicycles have not seen any significant safety improvements. In fact the proportionate and absolute number of cyclists killed or seriously injured is shown to be rising in many countries. While technology has made driving a car safer than ever before, riding a bike on the road has arguably become more dangerous than ever before. Yet with the technology available, significant bicycle safety improvements are more than possible.”

The Helmet That Pairs With It

The bike’s companion piece is Canyon’s prototype Stingr Smart helmet with its drop-down visor which connects to the on-bike AI safety systems with audio and haptic notifications providing the rider with warnings before you can see them. Put another way, the helmet helps you see what you don’t see. Data visualizations such as road hazards, the behaviour of other road users, group-ride dynamics, and advice on riding behaviour can be shown on the helmet’s display.

Data visualizations are primarily projected into the rider’s peripheral vision, to minimize cognitive load and keep the user’s primary focus on the road ahead.

For performance-minded riders, the helmet can be used either with or without the Canyon Predict system to display data such as speed, distance, time, cadence, power, elevation, and gradient.

For those who prefer riding without the screen/visor down, a voice-command or a press of the touch button will move the visor into and out of the helmet. And each time the visor retracts or deploys it passes through a stationary wiper blade that cleans the exterior surface.

The helmet is also responsive to voice commands, and the audio system also allows for warnings or notifications as well as route guidance (e.g. turn-by-turn directions, distance to destination and elevation info). When connected to a smartphone, it also enables group messaging and hands-free calling.

Canyon will be onsite at the upcoming Eurobike in Frankfurt to explain how and when the Stingr Smart helmet and the wider Canyon Predict innovation will be available to riders.