Telstra unveils world-first prototype that could save cyclists lives via The Monkeys and Herd MSL
Each year, 44 cyclists tragically die on Australia roads and unfortunately that is a number that will continue to rise unless more is done. Telstra hopes to tackle this important road safety issue with the development of a next generation, 5G-enabled cycling helmet packed with smart technology features that could improve the on-road safety of our cyclists. The 5G-connected helmet is the latest prototype in development by Telstra, in partnership with Australian cycling start-up, Arenberg and The Monkeys, part of Accenture Interactive and Herd MSL, Fuel Communications.
Cycling has seen an unprecedented surge in popularity in Australia, with more delivery services, commuters, and leisure riders on our roads than ever before. However, with this cycling boom has come a rise in the number of Australians injured or killed in bicycle crashes.
The helmet showcases the amazing capabilities of 5G connectivity in improving the on-road safety of Australia’s cycling community and motor vehicle drivers alike.
Says Todd Essery, Telstra Labs innovation lead: “We have been working for some time on connected vehicle technologies (V2X) with some of the world’s largest car manufacturers. Our team wanted to see whether we could use the same technology for the first time to address the issue of road safety for the more vulnerable road users in Australia: cyclists.
“Telstra’s 5G network, which now covers more than two thirds of Australians, is crucial to this as the low latency means information can flow to and from the helmet extremely quickly which is important because milliseconds of delay can be the difference between safety and serious injury.”
Whilst the prototype is in its early development stage, it already comes with high endorsement from champion cyclist, Anna Meares and Australia’s national Cycling safety body, Aus Cycling.
Says Meares: “A 5G-enabled cycling helmet could be a real win for Australia’s growing cycling community and road safety in general. While it is no surprise that I am a passionate rider, I still do worry about the safety of road riders including myself and my loved ones.
“Cyclists are amongst the most vulnerable users on our roads with far too many unnecessary and avoidable deaths. This kind of technology could not only help protect the safety of cyclists but also encourage more people to get out and cycle. It is really great to see how companies like Telstra are using their network to tackle this important issue for riders and all people on the road.”
Says Marne Fechner, CEO of AusCycling: “Just one life lost on the roads is too many and this initiative by Telstra has the potential to save lives. We’re excited to see where this helmet can go as this prototype is already shaping up to be a gamechanger for the cycling community and anything that contributes to the safety of cyclists on Australian roads, we wholeheartedly endorse.”
How the technology works? The prototype is developed to leverage Telstra’s high-speed 5G network and low latency benefit to provide real time data to the helmet rider via several features, alerting riders of threats caused by common road accidents.
Components of the prototype connected bike helmet, include features alerting the wearer:
• Road Alerts / Virtual Variable Message Sign (V-VMS): Road alerts such as road works, accidents, breakdown response, caution and congestion are audible announced to the rider as they enter a section of the road affected.
• V2X Collision Alerts: Vehicle and vulnerable road users share real-time location/heading and receive collision alerts.
• Video Analytics – Ride Data: Generates data about the ride by analysing the video of the ride. This data could be stored with the video or displayed in real-time alongside the video stream.
• Video Analytics – Car Door Opening: Cyclist receives early warning of possible car door opening alert based on video analytics processed in the cloud.
• Video Analytics Alert – Smart City Infrastructure: cyclists will share real-time location/heading to the V2X platform. Video analytics from street cameras pick up moving vehicles around corners and will send an alert to the cyclist via the platform. The platform will provide an alert if it determines there will be a collision.
• Combine Virtual and Real Bicycle Ride: A rider at home on a training bicycle can share a ride with a person out on the road in real-time. The road rider’s helmet view is streamed to a TV in front of the training bicycle.
Says Chris Flintoff, co-founder of Arenberg: “Covid-19 has grown our Cycling community but the risks for road riders remain the same. Our team were honoured to work with Telstra on the development of the Telstra Heads Up Helmet prototype. The capabilities of Telstra’s network has enabled us to connect our Road Helmet One – a bike helmet with an integrated camera – to the endless capabilities of 5G. Creating unlimited opportunities for cyclists, not just increased road safety but also entertainment and increased functionality.”
Agency: The Monkeys, Part of Accenture Interactive
PR Agency: Herd MSL, Fuel Communications
53 Comments
I’ve been looking for a way to get 5G signals closer to my head!
Tone deaf and hilarious – thank you
Yet another piece of utter scam from a telco company, making something that literally no one asked for.
Forget for a second that no one wants a 5G device strapped to their literal head and the health concerns around that, what does this do that your literal eyes cannot not do. There is no way it tells you things that you just cannot see yourself if you are paying attention? So is the idea that cyclists don’t pay attention and this will save them when that happens? Because if so, it’s really not coming through.
Great, but what the fuck does it actually do? I mean, collision alerts fro your helmet? Surely the patthway between your eyes and your brain is lower latency than Testra’s 5G network.
I love to think that they actually prototyped that helmet and did the engineering under a 2×2 marquee next to a bike track.
A car door opens and you have 0.5 seconds to react regardless??
A car merges in front of you and you have 0.5 seconds to react regardless??
Someone walks in front of you and you have 0.5 seconds to react regardless??
Speak with real cyclists ffs.
Better yet, try being a cyclist.
At least Clemengers ‘Rider Reminder’ tackled the cause not the effect.
What? There is no one more ‘real’ as a ‘real cyclist’ than Olympic winning Anna Meares. The release actually says “comes with high endorsement from champion cyclist, Anna Meares and Australia’s national Cycling safety body, Aus Cycling”. The Cycling safety body! So I highly doubt this would have happened without speaking to ‘real cyclists’. You just sound bitter. On your bike with your unnecessary negativity . As someone who has seen the effects of a cycling accident, anything that tries to help cyclists is a positive. This is great.
Did the people who ‘invented’ this, also invent the Optus ‘shark life buoy’?
Aren’t eyes and ears more effective than a distracting robotic voice coming from your helmet? If it offered something beyond what can be seen and heard already I’d get it but based off the case study this this appears to be ironically dangerous.
I made a vow that I would not post a negative comment ever on CB.
But I have to now break this vow.
Yes, technology (and mainly self driving cars) will be the saviour for cyclists.
Technology that won’t let a car door open if a cyclist is coming.
Or won’t let a car swerve or take off into the path of a cyclist.
But this?
This is as @oh my said is hilarious and Tone Deaf
Actually, it’s not hilarious, it’s bloody sad.
Sad that people put money and creative effort trying to be smart and win awards above actually making a difference and saving lives.
Want to make a difference now whilst we wait for technology to come and save us?
Put your creativity into changing road users behaviour (note drivers and cyclists)
Fix the hate and anger between road users
Establish an environment of respect and acceptance.
Now there is your brief.
This is Peggy 2.0
As a keen cyclist that has been involved in a handful of crashes, some of which have ended up with me on the surgeons and others have left me too scared to get back on the bike.. This feels utterly offensive. How about we address the issues actually making cycling unsafe? Ie., driver awareness, poor quality roads, road rage etc. This idea clearly comes from people who don’t ride, and feel like cyclists are unaware of danger. When in fact most of them are utterly terrified of the speeding around them. Im sorry @Monkeys, but this is horribly tone-deaf.
Whilst we’re at it, we should connect the 5G helmet to the Optus Shark buoy, Purple Bee Hive, Funderpants, Dolmio Pepper Grinder and almost every AR/VR/AI interactive-CX-BX-UX-engaging-experience outdoor site.
Genius! Why didn’t anyone else think of that?
you could always use ya eyes
Na but it is the same as Samsung BrainBand
It’s endorsed by Aus Cycle (Australia’s national Cycling safety body) and Anna Meares.
I doubt reputable people and organisations would put their reputations on the line if they didn’t think this idea is worthy.
I’m sure many, many, many tests would have been done.
I too am a cyclist. And I’d love this to be a reality in the future. Seen too many accidents in my time.
What has 5G got to do with this?
Bet there was much excitement from this film-based agency that they were finally making something non-traditional.
Think they should stick to films.
I don’t agree with some of the other comments about it being pointless. Obviously the intention is for this to warn you of things that you dont see that the camera does.
Plus it’s a prototype, so, yeah, got to start somewhere.
Try supporting stuff like this, rather than shitting on any attempt to help because you are in ad land and bitter or jealous.
Um, what’s with all the heads up stuff? The helmet does NOT have a screen. No screen, no HUD. So this is really only going to be audio, which is far less helpful because by the time you figure out where the threat is, you’ll have hit it. Which makes this promo video basically bullshit.
I can totally understand why they did this. They’ve done so many Lamb ads and a donut campaign that did nothing (except lose an account). And a lot of side projects.
Time to start back peddling
Shocked the Monkeys put their name to this. It probably started in a good place.
Realistically it would have taken one working session to realise they were trying to solve the wrong part of cycling accidents.
The awareness should be with the drivers as their lack of vision leads to most accidents not the cyclists (who can see it all).
Unfortunately this isn’t a great example of creativity, 5G or technology in general.
@ Lance, the government has spent so much money raising cyclist awareness to drivers. It’s just not doing enough.
Most new cars have built-in technology and sensors too now. Yet, we have an increase in bike related accidents.
Of course this is a driver issue too. I don’t think Telstra is suggesting that all the responsibility should fall on the cyclist.
But with 44 deaths a year, surely any further protection for a cyclist on the road is a good thing. I don’t think this will solve everything but it’s a great initiative and should be praised. We need more ideas like this.
There are often many issues to a problem. Yep, bad drivers are the leading cause. Doesn’t mean you have to ONLY focus on that
You know what was a great, insightful, real cyclist-helping idea? Life Paint.
You what isn’t? A helmet that relies on often-iffy cellular signal and an earpiece to do the job that your eyes already do a lot quicker.
Kudos for trying, and maybe this is most suitable for casual, bikeshare riders who don’t know what to look for.
I’m a road cyclist and have been for about 16 years. There are some pretty strong comments above, but I agree with the majority of them. 99% of people riding on roads aren’t distracted. They’re the most focused, aware road users there are. Along with 99% of motorcyclists. You have to be. It’s car drivers who aren’t. Ive been put in hospital once by a distracted car driver – you learn to assume all car drivers are distracted car drivers after something like that and become even more hyper vigilant. Good intentions aside, this would very quickly become annoying, alerting you to things you’ve already noticed. I just can’t see the merit in it.
…. no not for this idea – but for the idea of bikes automatically locking car doors from opening as per the comments above. Is that a thing? If not it should be – go create monkeys.
Is her statement: “I wanted to ride around more obstacles so I could hear it some more” not the complete opposite of what this is trying to achieve? She wants to put herself in more danger to see if the helmet detects said danger.
Can we talk about that video for a sec please? Because I think it shows just how far this technology is from actually being available. The video seems to claim that the tech is so acute that it can warn a rider that a driver is opening their car door. So the car is fully 5G enabled then? It must be. How else could it possibly know that? So to really work they way this video says, everything (or most everything) needs to 5G connected first? And not just one car, but all of them otherwise no warnings. And as someone pointed out earlier, there’s no screen over the riders eyes, so all the HUD alerts can’t exist they way they show. The goal is admirable if it’s to save riders lives. The video is just a bunch of pipe dreams really, unless we’re talking years into the future. I think that’s what everyone is upset about, sort of. Kinda insulting that Telstra and the Monkeys didn’t think we’d all notice.
Agree the government and automakers are already working on solutions, which we all commend. This however feels like a brand trying to produce purpose work which will inevitably have zero impact.
It’s probably the reason Arenberg hadn’t bothered doing it themselves https://store.arenberg.co/pages/rh1 considering they’d done 90% of this innovation already the only bit they left out was the bit that didn’t make any sense. The delayed alert system.
Reading most of the comments has left me dumbfounded.
If all the responsibility needs to fall on drivers without cyclists protecting themselves, then why should cyclists wear a helmet at all? Surely drivers should just be more careful and so we can all cruise helmet free?
As a matter of fact, if you’re a safe driver, then why wear a seatbelt? Why does the automotive industry spend trillions in crash tests on their cars? Surely it’s the bad drivers responsibility for your life and no one else’s.
It just doesn’t work that way.
This idea is the start of something big. There are too many small minded, finger tappers here.
Well done Telstra and Monkeys on trying to do some good.
I will 100% wear this ONLY IF it speaks with the voice of hyacinth bucket . ‘mind the pedestrian, Richard!’
It’ll still be useless, but at least good for a laugh.
‘So the car is fully 5G enabled then? It must be. How else could it possibly know that? ‘
I think you are misinterpreting the tech. The doors or cars are not ‘enabled’ in anyway. There is a camera in the helmet, when it ‘sees’ a car coming or a car door opening, it sends a message that triggers the audio
Can someone please explain to me how it knows someone is opening the car door?
The car has to be 5G enabled AND on the Telstra network?
This is so laughably vague. You do nothing to explain whether you’re using computer vision to detect opening doors or if your V2X connected vehicle technology can just do this automatically.
Another fun fact. Human reaction time is 250 milliseconds. To say the words car door left takes 1 second.
No, this isn’t the start of something big. It’s a scammy piece of useless tech aimed at trying to win awards.
As SS has pointed out, it takes 4 times longer to say ‘car door’ than it does to react to a car door.
This is ad land wankery at its worst
It’s up there with the best of the ‘prototypes’.
it has a cam in the helmet
@ss yeah, but what if the eye doesn’t see it? like if you are changing your Spotify on your phone to play ‘kerser is the sickest’ by kerser ?
It’s far from a world first…
Instead of buying Lycra and tiny coffees, cyclists should invest in cars. That’s how you save lives. Now get off the fucking road!
Are you serious dude?
Yours is definitely right up there with the dumbest.
Cyclists already protect themselves by wearing a helmet, hi-vis/reflective gear, lights all over their bikes and selves, and being hyper-vigilant on the roads. Despite all this, the biggest problem they face is lack of visibility and overall protection – unlike a car. What else would you have cyclists do to protect themselves?
This helmet does absolutely nothing to address this problem of driver unawareness – it just adds unnecessary tech to a completely different problem – rider attention. This is just Internet of Things crap.
I hope this 5G helmet has Swoopy Boi detection.
This helmet will probably save more people from Sharks than Clever Bouy ever did.
This product is obviously not aimed at “real” cyclists who would just find this an annoying distraction interfering with their real crash avoidance equipment, their eyes and ears, which are much faster and more reliable than 5G.
No, this is aimed at the occasional cyclist who will watch this film and believe the spin and spend a fortune on it before they use it twice and then it gathers dust.
I’m a huge fan of Anna Meares, but she’s just taking the cash on this one, can’t blame her.
Marketer goes on kickstarter.
Sees tech they think is cool.
Retro fits it to help them sell 5G.
Makes it.
It hardly works.
The end.
or when we have the internet of things. It’s a start.
Oh, and why wouldn’t motor cyclists have it too?
Like Thinkerbell’s beehive thing?
I’m going to wear this when I’m hanging up my Funderwear with Peggy and eating some Purple Bee Hive Honey after a shark-free surf.
I wonder if anyone has forwarded this video to the police to dob in the driver for running the broken white line and stop sign at 0:48. Several hundred in fines and 6 points off your licence there buddy.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0m-c4GixUpg