Spoke Partners with T-Mobile to Create IoT Visibility for Safer Cycling

T-Mobile and Deutsche Telekom have announced that Spoke, a mobility platform for safety, connectivity and rich rider experiences, will use T IoT to help bicyclists and motorists share the road more safely. T IoT, a comprehensive solution for global IoT connectivity, platform management and support, will power Spoke’s new hardware and software system that delivers near real-time information to bicyclists and motorists on the road, to help them reach their destination safely.

According to the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration, 78 percent of bicycle accidents happen in urban areas where bicyclists ride near traffic. Spoke is on a journey to shrink those numbers by creating an ecosystem of IoT-connected sensors and cameras to provide bicyclists and motorists with highly accurate and timely alerts that will be delivered over LTE and 5G. This helps ensure that bicycles can “digitally” see cars, and more importantly, that cars can see bicycles.

Consider that there were nearly 50 million bicycles sold last year across the world. Then think about the millions of connected vehicles on roadways across the globe. Right now, the process of connecting vehicles to data requires the time-consuming, cumbersome process of enterprise negotiations with different network operators and IoT platforms. And bicyclists and motorists obviously don’t care how a safety notification is delivered or which jurisdiction they are in, as long as alerts are timely and actionable — because the outcome can oftentimes prevent property damage, injury, or ultimately save a life.

T IoT delivers network connectivity spanning the full range of technologies to support nearly every possible IoT scenario today, and tomorrow — including NB-IoT, LTE-M, LTE, and 5G — making it optimized to help deliver near real-time connectivity at scale, in 188 destinations worldwide.

“T IoT supports the low-latency speed and massive data required to connect Spoke’s global network of hardware and software on the road,” said Jarrett Wendt, CEO, Spoke. “As a result, Spoke will deliver much more than peace of mind for cyclists. It will deliver a world-class user experience with ride-enriching features made just for them — like traffic, navigation, ride and health information. T-Mobile and Deutsche Telekom’s leading innovation makes them the perfect teammate for Spoke’s solutions.”

“Spoke is exactly the kind of customer, innovation, and global application we had in mind when we launched T IoT earlier this year,” said Mishka Dehghan, Senior Vice President, Strategy, Product, and Solutions Engineering, T-Mobile Business Group. “Spoke is looking to leverage IoT and 5G for global good, and with T IoT, they will have one team and solution to manage all their connections around the world — to help the most vulnerable on our roadways by connecting them to the mobility ecosystem around them.”

“The future of our traffic system is based on a robust vehicle-to-everything (C-V2X) ecosystem provided through global cellular 5G connectivity. We are happy to support pioneers like Spoke and help building up a reliable connected system for mobility safety and rich rider experiences through our T IoT global footprint”, said Dennis Nikles, CEO of Deutsche Telekom IoT.