Kick the Traffic Light
Door handles and buttons are full of bacteria and represent a growing concern with the current health pandemic. Recently, pedestrians even took the habit of pressing buttons at crossroads with their foot. Forward watched this trend and saw the opportunity to develop a solution for pedestrian crossings. Forward is a collective of communicators, researchers and designers who thrive on creating ideas for changing environments.
The collective recently developed “dropkick“, a button that can be pressed by people’s foot to indicate they want to cross the road. Lighted, the large black button located at the bottom of traffic lights is easily visible even during night time.
La Revolución del Bíci
Despite its Green City reputation, Costa Rica is a capital full of foggy petrol cars and this number keeps rising. However with the current pandemic new laws were developped. People can not use their car as often as before, traffic has slowed down and new mobility solutions emerged. The company Omni, that also manages the neobank OmniMoni and the taxi services OmniTaxi, is invading Costa Rica streets with its Omnibikes.
Bike lanes started to develop in the country, where Omnibikes is well developed and hotels even mention Omni mention it in their description. People are taking new habits, and realize riding a bike could be one of the solution to avoid traffic jams. One downside, not everyone can afford the electric bike rental cost. An Omnibike (“OmniBíci” in Spanish) costs $26 per month, or $1.60 per hour, while the average monthly salary in Costa Rica is only $750.
Picasso of Electric Scooters
The Swedish electric motorcycle brand Cake recently launched its new piece of art: Kalk INK. The presales were launched earlier this year and the deliveries started this Monday.
Do you remember the Kalk OR, the first model launched by Cake? Marketed in 2017 as a limited edition, the Kalk OR was rapidly sold out. Cake even won the 2019 German Design Award for its remarkable design.
The Kalk INK shares similar features as the Kalk OR. Both bikes can reach a 80km/h speed, and a drive can last up to 3 hours. Compared to the OR, the Kalk INK is $3500 cheaper.
Bees stop
Did you know hundreds of Utrecht’s bus stops are covered with plants? The initiative was taken by the city council to build a more environmental friendly city. The Dutch city aims to improve air quality, collect rain water and capture particulates of air pollution. The plants chosen to create the station’s roof are flowering sedums, known for their very low need for maintenance.
Greener, Utrecht’s bus stops became a new home for insects, and a new stop for bees.
Handsfree
General Motors (GM) is working on a new automatic drive technology. It will consist in improving the current version of the “Super Cruise”. The Super Cruise allows drivers to remove their hands from the steering wheel while driving on highways. The new version is thought to function in cities’ districts and streets in the future, and not only on highways.
Created in 2017, the Super Cruise was first implemented on Cadillac only. General Motors gradually increased the number of models in which the technology was implemented, while constantly improving the Super Cruise. Earlier in January, GM even added a new automatic lane changer.
