IoT for bicycle pool and road maintenance in Trollhättan

Important results from the project

With support from our partner GoRide, the City of Trollhättan has developed a system for booking, payment and fleet management for rental bicycles in a bicycle pool. The bikes are equipped with sensors. Other sensors are strategically placed at roads and cycle paths. Collected data is used as support for road managers´ priorities. They will also be shared as open data on the city´s website in a format useful to external stakeholders.

Expected long term effects

The project is now operational. Bicycles are being prepared at this moment. Sensors are located in 17 places by the city streets. A system for handling sensor data is in place, data that can help road managers´ to prioritize. Collected data may be analyzed via an algorithm that can predict the risk of slippery surfaces. Soon, the bicycle pool will be launched to the public, as a complement to public transport. The goal is that Trollhättan is perceived as easy to travel in for residents and visitors, and that slightly more people choose train + bike "last mile" instead of the whole trip by car.

Approach and implementation

The project has been demanding: We have handled electronics, RFID, apps, GDPR, sensors, encryption and programming languages, business models.. The vulnerability when competent / project members changed jobs was noticeable. The city of Trollhättan has had its own objective to collect sensor data without an intermediary: Companies that sell sensors often want the customer to subscribe to their tools for analyzes and visualizations of collected data. These drain the operating budgets. With the help of FME server, we do the analyzes ourselves, which gives more control and lower costs.