Canyon’s new ebike puts serious V2X safety smarts on 2 wheels

Modern cars are equipped with an increasing number of safety features: blind-spot monitoring, collision warning systems, and automatic emergency braking. At the same time, bicycles seem to be left outside of this safety ecosystem. We see this tendency in real-world statistics: over the past decade, the number of drivers killed in crashes has generally declined, while the number of cyclists killed has increased. Safety has become the number one reason why people choose cars over bikes in some countries, and Canyon aims to change that.

The company has recently focused on developing advanced safety features for bicycles. It recently introduced a road-bike concept called "Canyon Predict," equipped with an onboard AI predictive safety system. Now, Canyon is testing a different approach by bringing automotive safety hardware to an electric commuter bike called the Roadlite:ON V2X.

The technology the company is adopting is called Vehicle-to-Everything (V2X). Although it has existed for more than two decades, it is still relatively uncommon in consumer vehicles. V2X is a communication technology that allows vehicles to exchange information wirelessly in real time, including their position, speed, and direction of travel. It can also “communicate” with smart road infrastructure such as traffic lights and road signs.

But why not simply rely on cameras and sensors? The problem with those technologies is that they can only detect what is within their direct line of sight, which often doesn’t leave drivers enough time to react. V2X allows connected vehicles to share information even when they can’t see each other—for example, when a car is approaching an intersection from behind a building or around a blind corner. This gives drivers more time to react and could potentially prevent up to 80% of non-impaired vehicle crashes in the US alone.

The challenge with this technology is that it can only reach its full potential when road infrastructure and a majority of vehicles are equipped with it. This raises another question: why choose V2X for bicycles when the technology is still developing in cars? The answer lies in the physical limitations of bicycle design. Bikes have significantly less space, power, and computing capacity compared to cars. V2X offers an incredibly lightweight solution that allows bikes to broadcast their location to compatible vehicles while seamlessly receiving notifications about approaching traffic.

Canyon describes the Roadlite:ON V2X as the first production-ready bicycle capable of communicating directly with V2X-equipped vehicles. The bike itself is designed as a lightweight urban commuter. It weighs 13.9 kg (31 lb) and features a carbon frame, a single-speed belt-driven drivetrain, and a Bosch rear hub motor powered by a Bosch e-bike battery, providing about 90 km (56 miles) of range.

One of the biggest engineering challenges was positioning the GPS and V2X antennas. A compact V2X module is integrated into the bike’s downtube, while the communication antenna is located inside the head tube. The complete system weighs around 230 grams (0.5 lb) and uses less than 1% of the e-bike’s battery capacity.

According to Canyon, the system provides a 360-degree communication range, reaching up to 300 m (1,000 ft) from the front and 150 m (500 ft) behind the bike. When a V2X-equipped vehicle approaches, the system alerts the cyclist through vibrations in the handlebar grips. If a car approaches from the right side around a blind corner, for example, the right grip will vibrate instantly, allowing the rider to keep their eyes on the road. Notifications can also optionally be sent to a phone, smartwatch, or bike computer.

Canyon has been trialing this technology in cooperation with Volkswagen, and testing showed that connected vehicles and bicycles can successfully detect each other and exchange live safety information. The biggest hurdle now is not the hardware, it is adoption, which presents a classic chicken-and-egg problem.

V2X becomes truly valuable only when more vehicles, bicycles, and infrastructure use compatible communication systems. Without enough connected cars, cyclists will rarely receive safety warnings, making it difficult for bike companies to justify adding the cost of this feature. At the same time, car manufacturers have little incentive to prioritize vulnerable road user safety tech if there are not enough connected bikes on the road to talk to.

The answer to this is simple: both industries need to grow the ecosystem together, and Canyon is taking a major step forward. Introducing the Roadlite:ON V2X seems less like a traditional product launch and more like an industry statement. Canyon is demonstrating that advanced automotive safety features are entirely possible on two wheels, encouraging other bike manufacturers and automakers to adopt the technology and make roads safer for everyone.

Source: Canyon