bikelanes
Latest
New Yorker applied machine learning to blocked bike lane problem
Alex Bell likes to bike around New York City, but he got fed up with how often bike lanes were blocked by delivery trucks and idling cars. So he decided to do something about it, the New York Times reports. Bell is a computer scientist and he developed a machine learning algorithm that can study traffic camera footage and calculate how often bike and bus lanes are blocked by other vehicles. He trained the algorithm with around 2,000 images of different types of vehicles and for bus lanes, he set the system to be able to tell the difference between buses that are allowed to idle at bus stops and other vehicles that aren't. Then, he applied his algorithm to 10 days of publicly available video from a traffic camera in Harlem.
Uber admits its self-driving cars have trouble with bike lanes
After reports of Uber's self-driving cars running red lights and failing to stop for pedestrians during trips in San Francisco, the company has also admitted to issues with its autonomous vehicles navigating around (and legally interacting with) bike lanes. A spokesperson told The Guardian that the company was working to fix a flaw that allowed cars to turn into cycling lanes. Instead of merging into lanes ahead of making a right-hand turn, SF Bicycle Coalition executive director Brian Weidenmeier said he saw Uber's self-driving cars make unsafe turns through bike lanes, twice.
Route-tracing robot shows where bike lanes should be
Tired of having to share the road with cars while you're biking? You're not alone. The marketers at Radwende have built a route-tracing art robot to make a case for more bike lanes in Wiesbaden, a German city frequently considered hostile to pedal pushers. The machine draws the paths of riders who use Android and iPhone tracking apps during their journeys, creating a crowdsourced cycling map whose lines get bolder based on traffic. The more people travel down a given street, the clearer it is that a bike lane is necessary.
