- Bicycle manufacturer Canyon and Deutsche Telekom present new service solution
- Crash sensors sense crashes and call the emergency services
- No chance for thieves: intelligent bike transmits location via GPS
"Knight Rider" on two wheels: Koblenz-based bike manufacturer Canyon Bicycles and Deutsche Telekom have presented the first bike with a built-in emergency call function system at the Eurobike 2014 bikes exhibition in Friedrichshafen. The intelligent bike senses emergencies and calls the emergency services via eCall, if necessary. GPS locates cyclists who have been involved in an accident and doctors are able to treat them faster. The bike also communicates with the rider: Technical data on distance covered and the state of wear of bike parts are made available via an app, which improves customer service enormously.
A pilot phase covering several months is planned for early 2015 when the partners will put the "connected" bike through its paces. An end-to-end solution already in use at T-Systems in the Connected Car Group business area forms the technical basis for the system. Together with T-Systems, Telekom Deutschland tailored this solution to the needs of the bicycle sector.
Industry 4.0 makes the all-in-one service possible The solution is built around a communication unit (on-board unit) the size of a small ruler. The unit is fitted with a SIM card, a microcontroller, a movement sensor, and a GPS module. What's more, the bike also has sensors at various points that transmit data to the on-board unit. The precise timing of the next service is calculated based on the distance traveled and the load on the material and transmitted directly to the T-Systems cloud platform via the built-in SIM card. The rider can also access the data relating to the bike at any time via a smartphone app. That means the rider always knows when parts that wear down, such as brake pads, chain and shift cables need replacing and can order the right parts with a single click in the app.
No chance for bike thieves The entire system is built in the bike frame and therefore invisible to thieves. The bike's owner can monitor its location at all times using GPS via the app or the web interface and can inform the police if it's stolen.
In an emergency, the bike makes the call The intelligent bike has crash sensors that register heavy impacts or a rapid loss of speed combined with the bike lying on its side. The bike then sends an alarm signal, initially to the rider's smartphone. If the rider doesn't respond, the bike informs a contact person chosen by the rider or an emergency control center by text message via the on-board unit. The nearest emergency services unit is then informed of the location of the accident. Any additional information stored voluntarily by the rider, such as age and any pre-existing conditions, is also transmitted.
Nationwide mobile coverage Full mobile communications coverage is important for eCall. The key to the whole solution, after all, is its connection to the mobile network – the network has to be operating and has to send the emergency signal reliably. Telekom uses machine-to-machine (M2M) communicationto ensure the eCall data arrives very quickly and reliably. M2M stands for the automated exchange of information between terminal equipment such as machines or vehicles and a control center.
About Canyon Bicycles Canyon was founded in 1985 as Radsport Arnold and renamed as Canyon Bicycles GmbH in 2001. The company has been selling bikes under the Canyon brand name since 1996. The Koblenz-based company develops, assembles and sells road bikes, mountain bikes and triathlon bikes as well as accessories and clothing via the direct sale model which means selling directly to the customer without middlemen. The company will be launching fitness bikes and an urban collection on the market for the first time in 2015. Canyon products are developed with the aid of highly qualified engineers, creative designers, and passionate bikers. In recent years, the brand has been voted the most sought after mountain bike and road bike in the German-speaking area several times and collected numerous test victories and awards, all rounded off with the Design Prize of the Federal Republic of Germany.
About Deutsche Telekom Deutsche Telekom is one of the world’s leading integrated telecommunications companies with over 142 million mobile customers, 31 million fixed-network lines and over 17 million broadband lines (as of December 31, 2013). The Group provides fixed-network, mobile communications, Internet and IPTV products and services for consumers, and ICT solutions for business and corporate customers. Deutsche Telekom is present in around 50 countries and has approximately 229,000 employees worldwide. The Group generated revenue of 60.1 billion euros in the 2013 financial year - over half of it outside Germany.
About T-Systems Drawing on a global infrastructure of data centers and networks, T-Systems operates information and communication technology (ICT) systems for multinational corporations and public sector institutions. On this basis, Deutsche Telekom's corporate customer arm provides integrated solutions for the networked future of business and society. Some 50,000 employees at T‑Systems combine industry expertise with ICT innovations to add significant value to customers' core business all over the world. The corporate customers unit generated revenue of around 9.5 billion euros in the 2013 financial year.