The LightLane concept is moving forward

You may remember about 6 months ago when I posted the LightLane concept, which was designed by two Altitude employees, Evan Gant and Alex Tee. Their concept, which involved simulating a bike lane with lasers mounted near the seat, was originally conceived as an entry for the Bicycle Design “commuter bike for the masses” design competition late last year. Though it didn’t win the competition, several of the jury members, including myself, thought the idea was pretty interesting.

Now it appears that Evan and Alex are moving forward with their idea. They have a website where you can see pictures and a video of the prototype in action. You can see in the video that the diode-pumped solid-state green lasers used in the prototype create very sharp and bright lines on the pavement. Take a look…the prototype is really quite impressive.

On the website, they point out that the product is still in development so they “welcome any comments, questions or input you may have”. Let them know if you have any ideas or suggestions as they proceed with the development of this concept.

Personally, I am glad to see the LightLane idea moving forward. Good luck with it guys; I hope I will get the chance to try one when it hits the market.

Posted

June 26, 2009

Commuter, Concept

James

Tags:

commuter_bike_design_competiton, commuting, light, LightLane

Comments

6 responses to “The LightLane concept is moving forward”

Human_Amp

June 26, 2009

Great concept, and excellent that its moving forward.

It is a good result of the bicycledesign competition. Not a bike so it could not of won, but good that the publicity jump started the project towards production.

I hope it has nicely 'dialled up' 'Photon' laser 🙂

Reply
Andrew

June 26, 2009

It's an interesting concept. I wonder if it's actually more effective than just having a regular ol' red light, though.

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JeffS

June 26, 2009

I wish they'd finish it already so people will stop talking about it. I've never seen so much talk about a non-existent cycling product before.

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Anonymous

June 28, 2009

I'd like to see a shred of evidence that it's actually effective. Sure, somebody with a clear view of the cyclist might see the lines. But the next guy won't see a bit since his view would be obstructed. Even more so than a light mounted at seatpost height or higher. Interesting (possibly innovative) idea, absolutely, but from what I can tell, it falls short, and is just another piece of plastic to confuse and, and possibly endanger cyclists.

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J.

June 29, 2009

I'm not convinced about the effectiveness either, but I think its worth trying, and its not like theres a gov't mandate shoving it down anyone's throat.

Couple of notes – good that it's paired with a red flashy light (at least in the mockup). I'm not surprised they've gone with green, given eyes being sensitive to those wavelengths so presumably it would require less power. It's less sexy and does not have the RED=STOP association however.

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Les

July 28, 2009

That is an AWESOME idea!

I hope for one it sees production…

Reply