This technology could make Colorado鈥檚 roads safer for bicyclists 鈥� but is it reliable?

In The NoCo

This technology could make Colorado鈥檚 roads safer for bicyclists 鈥� but is it reliable?

By In The NoCo,

Published April 4, 2025 at 5:35 AM MDT

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A man rides a bicycle through an intersection. — A cyclist bikes through an intersection at City Park Avenue and West Mulberry Street in Fort Collins on Monday, June 24, 2024. Traffic-related cyclist fatalities in Colorado went up 33% last year over 2022, making 2023 among the deadliest years for cyclists statewide over the past decade.

The accused of hitting and killing a promising young competitive cyclist has made headlines in recent days. Seventeen-year-old Magnus White was struck and killed in 2023 while riding his bike on Highway 119 between Boulder and Longmont.

Today we鈥檙e sharing a conversation about technology that might prevent similar tragedies.

Magnus White鈥檚 parents and other cycling safety advocates have called for more regulations to make bicyclists safer on our roads 鈥� including better bike lanes and stiffer penalties for careless driving.

Their demands also include a federal requirement that all new vehicles be equipped by the year 2029 with (AEB) systems that can sense bicycles. For example, if your car drifts into the shoulder where a bicyclist is riding, the car would automatically brake or be nudged back into its lane.

All of this got us wondering 鈥� how well do advanced safety systems like AEB or V2X () work? And how feasible are these technologies right now?

Today we revisit our conversation from last summer with with the Center for Transportation and Logistics at MIT to learn more. He researches driver behavior, and how humans interact with automatic braking systems and other advanced vehicle technologies.

Bryan spoke with Erin O鈥橳oole about the potential and the limitations of this new technology.

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In The NoCo Cycling (Bikes & Bicycles)Safety Transportation Traffic Fatalities

In The NoCo

KUNC's In The NoCo is a daily slice of stories, news, people and issues. It's a window to the communities along the Colorado Rocky Mountains. The show brings context and insight to the stories of the day, often elevating unheard voices in the process. And because life in Northern Colorado is a balance of work and play, we celebrate the lighter side of things here, too.

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Erin O'Toole

As the host of KUNC鈥檚 new program and podcast In the NoCo, I work closely with our producers and reporters to bring context and diverse perspectives to the important issues of the day. Northern Colorado is such a diverse and growing region, brimming with history, culture, music, education, civic engagement, and amazing outdoor recreation. I love finding the stories and voices that reflect what makes NoCo such an extraordinary place to live.

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Brad Turner

Brad Turner is an executive producer in KUNC's newsroom. He manages the podcast team that makes In The NoCo, which also airs weekdays in Morning Edition and All Things Considered. His work as a podcaster and journalist has appeared on NPR's Weekend Edition, NPR Music, the PBS 暗黑爆料hour, Colorado Public Radio, MTV Online, the Denver Post, Boulder's Daily Camera, and the Longmont Times-Call.

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Ariel Lavery

Ariel Lavery grew up in Louisville, Colorado and has returned to the Front Range after spending over 25 years moving around the country. She co-created the podcast Middle of Everywhere for WKMS, Murray State University鈥檚 NPR member station, and won Public Media Journalism awards in every season she produced for Middle of Everywhere. Her most recent series project is "The Burn Scar", published with The Modern West podcast. In it, she chronicles two years of her family鈥檚 financial and emotional struggle following the loss of her childhood home in the Marshall Fire.

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