Scientists develop wireless brakes for bicycles

Everything is going wireless these days – and it’s not just your mobile phones. Some scientists in Germany have come up with a new wireless braking system that works without cable and levers. And when its calculation of reliability gives the system 99.999999999997% reliability – three out of a trillion attempts. Wow.

The system works using wireless radio signals being sent from the handle bar to the part which activates the disc brake. No word on how much energy/battery is needed to make it work, but it does work according to pressure – the harder the handle bar is pressed, the harder the pressure is applied to the brakes.

The scientists are still performing tests on the system, and hoping to improve it before it’s released (they’re unhappy with the 250ms it takes to stop the bike travelling at 30km/h). Hopefully we won’t have to wait too long for it to happen.

George Wong
Categories: Transportation
Tags: bicycle, bike, wireless