Tome Software and Trek Bicycle are looking to AI to make biking safer

Tome Software has teamed up with Trek Bicycle to reduce the number of bike to vehicle collisions. To achieve this goal, the partners have turned to using artificial intelligence at the autonomous vehicle testing facility, Mcity. The project will be conducted at Mcity’s TechLab, a partnership between the University of Michigan’s Center for Entrepreneurship and Mcity around mobility.

The project’s press release points to an US DOT study that found a combined 46,000 cyclists suffered from vehicle accidents and fatalities in 2015.

“Bicycle-to-vehicle collisions is a problem that affects all cyclists; a community we’re all passionate about,” said Jake Sigal, founder and CEO for Tome Software. “When Scott’s team at Trek approached me about helping to get automakers interested in working with the cycling community, I felt a personal responsibility to take part in leading this project. Tome’s cycling and vehicle integrations experience puts us in a unique position to develop solutions that will save cyclists’ lives.”

Sigal tells TechCrunch there are three aspects to the project. They will start by identifying the most dangerous zones on the road and then work out a solution to share this data with cyclists and then motorists. AI will be used for the first part.

Tome Software was founded by Sigal in 2014 after he sold his previous startup, Livio Radio, to Ford. The company focuses on developing connectivity solutions for larger companies. The company’s first product was integrated into a HumanScale desk that will tell the worker when to sit and stand.

For this bike project, Trek enlisted the help of Tome.

“Trek has a longstanding commitment to the development of solutions to enhance the safety of all cyclists,” said Eric Bjorling, brand manager for Trek. “Research and innovation have been at the heart of those efforts and having a partner like Tome to accelerate ensuring that a cyclist’s most basic needs are met is going to have a massive impact.”

Bicycling is experiencing a sort of renaissance and are quickly reaching new users through various means including bike sharing. As the DOT data shows, there’s a large area of opportunity to make biking safer.