Rivly

The future of mobility is evolving around bikes & e-scooters. We bring the navigation.

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Inspiration

Have you ever tried to cycle with your bike to somewhere completely new? Visited a foreign city and used a shared bike/ E-Scooter like Bird? How did you end up navigating to the place that intended to go?

Probably you single handed used Google Maps on your phone, while riding on your bike. Having been there ourself, we know that this is reckless and by far not an optimal navigation experience: (1) You press buttons on your phone that you didn't intend to press, (2) you can't see the route on the display in direct sunlight (3) stopped every 10 meters to check if you are on route (4) and comitted a traffic offence along the way.

Given that we look into a future with less cars and much more bikes/ lightweight transportation devices we need to to fix navigation for the last mile!

What it Rivly does

Rivly is a navigation system specifically build for the requirements of everyday biking/last mile transportation. It is a high visible active led matrix display that sits on the handlebar and shows you easy to follow turn by turn navigations to your final destination.

How does the navigation with Rivly Display work? (1) Before you start your journey you map your route in Google Maps. (2) You share the route with the Rivly App on your phone. (If Rivly will be integrated as a white label solution, e.g. in DB Call A Bike or Bird you share the route with the respective App) (3) Rivly will start navigating to your destination.

Rivly can either be build and sold as a stand-along gadget or as a white label solution for current bicycle/e-scooter manufactures.

How we built it

Our Rivly POC was build using low-cost of the shelf components. In total Rivly costed around 40 Euro. Integrating Rivly into current bikes/e-scooters can utilise already existing hardware cutting costs to 6 Euros or less.

Accomplishments that we're proud of

Our Navigation works. Ask us for a demo.

What we learned

Using realtime GPS coordinates is challenging.

Technology we used

Software:

  • SWIFT (iOS App)
  • Google Direction API
  • Flask (Backend service on Raspi)
  • Python
  • Apple MapKit

Hardware:

  • Raspberry PI Zero
  • Unicorn LED Matrix

What's next for Rivly

Rivly can be extended by various enhancements generating an even better user experience for cyclists. By adding two small vibration motors to the left and right grip at your handlebar we can give you an additional force feedback channel that informs you about your next turn. Adding highly visbile LEDs to the end of the handlebar can also inform your surrounding of your next turn, making sure that you arrive safely at you final destination.

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