BIG INTERVIEW
The first
See.Sense intelligent light launched on Kickstarter in 2013, but it was in 2016 when Philip and Irene launched their first connected bike light, Icon, that
See.Sense entered its new phase. Icon featured a host of connected features for the rider, but
more importantly it allowed
See.Sense to gather and aggregate data insights from across its community of users. “Our products are at the heart of what we do,” Irene explained. “It is where we came from and we are passionate about: delivering a great product experience for our customers. However, we have seen that data is now a high growth part of our business and has overtaken product sales.”
See.Sense uses anonymised, granular data on road surface condition, swerving and braking patterns, speed, and dwell time, among other metrics. This data offers a remarkable insight into not only cycling habits, but also into safety and efficiency of a rider’s environment.
See.Sense is already working with cities around the world to make life better and safer for bike riders.
Connected future
The information can be harnessed to help cities make informed decisions on cycling policy and infrastructure, as Irene explained: “The use cases for our data include identification of safety hotspots, the design and maintenance of cycling infrastructure and behaviour change programmes. We recently completed a project working in London with TfL for example, that has shown our data can help inform their understanding of collisions and understanding of risk. It’s a great thing for our customers, knowing that just by riding their bike with a connected
See.Sense light, they are gathering insights that can really help cities transform for more cycling.”
See.Sense lights are connected both for the user and for collecting cycling insights
See.Sense co-founders Irene and Philip McAleese
See.Sense’s business model is now two-fold - a B2C offering for commuter and road cyclists, along with a B2B model working with authorities and bike, e-bike, e-cargo, and e-scooter fleet operators to monitor and gather data insights. The network of
See.Sense users is now more than 100,000,
and growing. But as the data aspect of the business has overtaken the product side,
See.Sense is also working with cities to get its lights into as many hands as possible to help collect data. For example in Dublin, cyclists have been offered a heavily subsidised Icon light (€20 compared with RRP €90), in exchange for taking part in a survey to help collect data on cyclists across the city. Irene said: “
See.Sense data fills an important gap for cities since there is very limited data when it comes to cycling. Where it does exist, it is either a basic ‘count’ of cyclists or is crowdsourced GPS data. “Because our devices gather such granular
sensor data on swerving, braking and even the road surface conditions, we offer new insights into the cycling experience that go beyond what is typically available. This is why our data can be used for improved understanding of safety as well as the design and maintenance of cycling infrastructure. We’re working with partners such as RoSPA [Royal Society for the Prevention of Accidents], TfL [Transport for London], and the Transport Accident Commission in Victoria to achieve real impact in cities.” Having utilised data to revolutionise their
own business model, how do Philip and Irene see data impacting the wider cycling industry?
www.bikebiz.com January 2023 | 23
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