Colloquia

Summary

In recent years, road cycling has increased in popularity worldwide. Due to its health benefits, welcoming community and great scenery, many enthusiasts choose road cycling as a form of exercise. Thanks to its great weather all year-round and kilometric roads overseeing the Mediterranean sea, Spain has become the European Mecca for cyclists from around Europe.
However, the cycling culture in Spain isn’t as advanced as in other countries such as The Netherlands. Road users aren’t habituated to sharing the road with cyclists, causing laws to be commonly misinterpreted by both parties. Moreover, Spanish roads are not designed for cycling. Dangerous road conditions, narrow shoulders and heavy traffic are some of the risks road cyclists are exposed to. Which has led to a significant increase in accidents involving bicycles, cars and other motorized vehicles.
The aim of this thesis is to research and develop a safety system for road cyclists to protect themselves and other road users from potential accidents on Spanish roads.The thesis research question is the following: How can a product be developed to help prevent road accidents among cyclists in Spain?
Extensive literature research about the most common causes of road accidents and safety systems for road cyclists determine the 3 main reasons why accidents take place are visibility, behaviour and communication. These are considered the most important requirements for the solution: give visibility, improve behaviour and engage in communication. The research, along with field interviews, market research and target group definition extract additional requirements: functional, user and solution requirements.
During the ideation phase, 7 concepts are proposed based on the requirements. Through shape exploration, 3D modelling and prototype testing one final concept is chosen: a bicycle-to-bicycle and bicycle-to car (and vice-versa) GPS-driven, road alert communication system. This system is based on the premise that when a driver and/or cyclist are given information about their surroundings with enough distance or time, they can make informed decisions and accordingly adapt their behaviour on the road. Thereupon, the selection of materials, components and cost of manufacturability is determined.
Finally, a market launch proposal is described, which covers the actions required for a successful market launch. This includes developing functional prototyping with real components, finding manufacturers, assessing the feasibility of the market in question, adapting the design to future markets and determining a launch campaign. This section also studies the viability of the product and brand expansion.