Two Coalition for Cyclist Safety members, Canyon and nfiniity, have reached a milestone in connected cycling. Together they have built the Roadlite:ON V2X, the first high-performance urban e-bike to fully implement the latest automotive connectivity standard. The bike is production-ready, though it is not yet available for sale.
Vehicle-to-Everything (V2X) technology lets vehicles, infrastructure, and road users exchange wireless signals, giving each a clearer sense of what is around them. It is already arriving in cars. The Roadlite:ON V2X brings that same language to the bicycle, so equipped bikes and vehicles can sense one another even when there is no direct line of sight.
A bike that communicates
The Roadlite:ON V2X works in three ways.
Driver awareness. A V2X nano board, powered by nfiniity, sits in the bike’s downtube, with a V2X and GPS antenna in the head tube. Together they let the bike signal its presence to nearby vehicles, which can surface that information on their in-vehicle displays.
Rider awareness. When a vehicle approaches, the bike alerts the rider through a haptic vibration in the left or right handlebar grip, so the rider can keep their eyes on the road. The same information can also appear on a connected phone, watch, or bike computer.
Smart infrastructure. The bike can communicate with compatible city infrastructure now being trialled in Germany and the Netherlands, opening the door to features such as bicycle-specific green waves at traffic lights.
The Roadlite:ON V2X is built on a carbon chassis with a belt-driven hub motor, and its battery keeps reserve power for the V2X system even when the motor’s charge runs out. A dynamic brake light and radar add another layer of awareness, signalling a rider’s actions to drivers and warning when a vehicle is following too closely. As Canyon Design Engineer Dr. Victor Casas Melo puts it, with this technology “bicycles can speak.”
“Bicycles can speak.”
Why it matters
Cars have grown steadily safer over the past decade, yet cyclists have not seen the same gains, and serious injuries among riders are rising across Europe. Bringing automotive-grade connectivity to the bicycle is one way to close that gap. By showing what is already possible, Canyon and nfiniity are inviting the wider cycling and automotive industries to move faster on the roads we all share.
That kind of cross-sector collaboration is exactly what the Coalition for Cyclist Safety exists to accelerate.
