Velo AI to equip local bike share fleet with sensors as part of DOT program to improve road safety
We're excited to share that Velo has been awarded funding as part of the U.S. Department of Transportation Complete Streets AI Initiative aimed at leveraging technology to responsibly deploy artificial intelligence solutions that prioritize safety, comfort, and connectivity. The project will be led by a core team of Velo, The Ehrlichman Group, Carnegie Mellon University’s Mobility Analytics Center and local bike share partner, POGOH.
Eliminating conflict with motor vehicles is the most effective means of protecting bicyclists, and the combination of crash data and near-miss observations can be an effective means of understanding where new road infrastructure is needed. We believe our technology can help reimagine the future of smart mobility and make streets safer for everyone.
What's new
Dual Data Collects Heat Up
February 3, 2025
Our winter warrior crew has over 200 miles on the Strip District route, capturing both front and rear Copilot data to help build a safety and risk map that will inform our SBIR work. And the competition for King of the Mountain on the route is heating up on Strava!
Advisory Committee Meeting #2
January 22, 2025
We reconvened the advisory committee virtually due to extreme temperatures. The group discussed the first interim report and feedback, as well as challenges and how we're solving them. Robust discussions around public data privacy, equitable distribution of Copilot devices, and next steps.
Winter Warrior Kickoff
January 18, 2025
Excited to showcase our Winter Warrior Crew! With negative temps and a lot of snow and ice on the road, public bike usage unsurprisingly drops in the winter months. To supplement our data for the , we’ve recruited some local winter warriors to test front-facing Copilots and help us build a more robust dataset. Adam has been along for the ride since the start as our first customer and is now cruising the streets with 2 Copilots! We have some great winter setups and we’ll keep sharing our most frigid moments
SBIR Monthly Practitioner Meeting
January 10, 2025
Our MPO, The Southwestern Pennsylvania Commission (SPC), hosted our second practitioner meeting with their staff, as well as practitioners from the City of Pittsburgh and Bike Pittsburgh. The Velo SBIR team provided project updates and the discussion focused on data sources and workflows, as well as missing data and how to integrate data sources most efficiently and effectively.
Washington, D.C. roadtrip for TRB
January 6, 2025
The Velo SBIR Team had a successful, snowy TRB! We met the new ARPA-I leadership, the Volpe CSAI team, and had a chance to hear about the White House AI Aspirations for Transportation in our discussion with DOT. We also met with our Complete Streets AI cohort companies to learn more about Phase I projects and collaboration opportunities.
Dual camera data collects to kickoff the New Year!
January 1, 2025
Over the course of January, we will complete a full data collection using front and rear Copilot cameras. Nearly 500 miles of geotagged camera data through the busy Strip District neighborhood in Pittsburgh, in order to build a safety and risk map to inform our SBIR work.
SBIR Monthly Practitioner Meeting
December 6, 2024
We held our first monthly meeting with local transportation practitioners from The Department of Mobility & Infrastructure at the City of Pittsburgh, the Southwestern Pennsylvania Commission (SPC), Bike Pittsburgh, and The Ehrlichman Group to discuss best practices for SBIR data implementations.
Pittsburgh Robotics Network Discovery Day
November 20, 2024
Velo, along with 130 local robotics companies, had the opportunity to connect with 6,000+ professionals, innovators, students, and community members to share innovations in AI and robotics happening throughout the Pittsburgh region. We were able to showcase our new partnership with POGOH and share our Phase I SBIR plans with the community. Overwhelmingly, people are excited about the region having access to near-miss data and our technology being integrated into accessible public bike infrastructure to make streets safer for everyone.
USDOT Complete Streets AI SBIR Kickoff
November 7, 2024
We kicked off our Phase I Complete Streets AI Advisory Committee, which includes Bike Pittsburgh, BikeShare Pittsburgh – POGOH, Allegheny Conference, Reinforced Ventures, RK Mellon Foundation, Heinz Endowments, City of Pittsburgh Department of Mobility & Infrastructure, Southwestern Pennsylvania Commission, Carnegie Mellon Mobility Analytics Center, and The Ehrlichman Group. This group, which includes practitioners, has robust experience in the mobility and safety space and has already provided critical input for the project. We followed the meeting with a community happy hour that included existing Velo customers to celebrate the project kickoff.
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