LIDAR, Electric Bikes, and Transportation Safety - Phase II

Mobile light detection and ranging (LIDAR) technology offers a significant opportunity to increase transportation safety and efficiency. Moreover, electric bikes (e-bikes) provide a potentially important avenue to facilitate large reductions in greenhouse gases and hazardous emissions while promoting the usage of public transportation. However, little research exists at the crossroads of these two technologies. Hence, the second year of this project will expand the prior e-bike LIDAR testing efforts to obtain quantitative and qualitative data on its operation under low, medium, and heavy traffic scenarios on campus. Data will include e-bike battery and motor parameters while also capturing the interaction of this e-bike with the surrounding pedestrians, other cyclists, and motor vehicles. This will result in the development of e-bike models for driving simulator, gap acceptance, and emissions reduction studies. Furthermore, a re-envisioning of this inexpensive mobile LIDAR system will occur in order to facilitate extensions to other transportation-based safety outcomes, such as pavement quality monitoring.

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