Could Ford's emoji jacket save the lives of cyclists in London?

The prototype aims to keep people safer on the roads
Amelia Heathman7 February 2020

Cycling is a great way to get around a city: you get to experience more on the roads and it’s an easy way to sneak some exercise into your commute.

Yet safety concerns are one of the main reasons people choose not to get on their bikes. A survey in 2018 found that nearly 75 per cent of women in seven UK cities have never cycled for a local journey because they don’t feel safe. In London, the total number of cyclists killed or seriously injured on roads increased by 83 per cent in 2018. A TfL report in 2019 said that more cyclists were killed or seriously injured as a result of collisions with cars.

Carmaker Ford has been working on a prototype to make things safer for both cyclists and drivers by allowing them to communicate more easily. The idea? An emoji jacket.

Created in partnership with industrial design specialists Designworks, the jacket allows a cyclist to effectively communicate their emotions to drivers and other road users by displaying big emoji icons on an LED panel on the back of the jacket.

The jacket can display a wearer’s mood – such as happy, neutral or worried. It can also display indicators and a hazard signal to demonstrate a rider’s movements and possible dangers ahead.

All these functions can be controlled using a wireless remote which can be mounted and removed from the bike so the cyclist just hits a particular button to display the situation.

Ford has created the jacket as part of its Share the Road campaign which wants to encourage more people to cycle safely, especially when it comes to short journeys.

In a statement about the campaign, Ford’s president and CEO of EMEA, Steven Armstrong said: “As someone who frequently travels on both two wheels and four wheels, I have experienced first‑hand many of the frustrations – and dangers – that drivers and cyclists encounter on our roads today. The safe integration of increasingly diverse modes of transportation is key to how we make our cities safer and easier for everyone to get about in, now and in the future.”

The jacket can demonstrate indicators as well as warning signals to other vehicles and cyclists on the road
Ford

So why emojis? Emoji expert Dr Neil Cohn said the icons have become a fundamental part of how we use language now, and in particular, they’re a speedy use of communication. “Whether used to convey facial expressions, humour, or sarcasm, they have become integral to our ability to express ourselves and quickly. This jacket created in partnership with Ford Share the Road allows riders to express their feelings and creates an important emotional link between them and other road users,” he said.

Other Share the Road initiatives include WheelSwap, a virtual reality experience that allows you to see the world from either a cyclist’s or a driver’s point of view. It’s aim is to encourage people to make small changes to the way they cycle or drive so the roads are safer overall. Ford also worked with road safety experts Brake to put together a list of hints and tips to make everyone a more considerate person on the road.

Finding safer ways for people to get around the roads is becoming increasingly important as cities become more crowded and roads more polluted. Last year, Oslo in Norway banned cars from its streets in order to “given the streets back to people.”

Ford’s emoji jacket is just a prototype for now but who knows, you could be cycling around with your emotions on your back in the new few years.

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