A free cycling app developed by a group of Dutch provincial councils will give riders faster green lights at smart traffic junctions across the country. The tool is being launched this month.
Smart traffic lights – formally known as iVRIs – work like the induction loops embedded in many road surfaces, detecting traffic and adjusting their timing accordingly. They also receive signals from drivers’ and cyclists’ navigation systems, which roads agency Rijkswaterstaat says are anonymous and lapse the moment a vehicle has passed.
The lights already give priority to approaching emergency services and public transport buses, and in the greenhouse-heavy Westland area also respond to lorries.
A few thousand are in operation nationally, according to ANP, and the network is set to expand in the coming years. Zuid-Holland alone has close to 350; a public map shows where they are installed.
Easier rides
The Da’s zo gefietst! (“That’s an easy ride!”) app sends a signal to the traffic light as a cyclist approaches, prompting it to switch to green sooner or hold the green phase a little longer. The effect is similar to pressing the pedestrian request button while still moving, Zuid-Holland’s transport chief Jeroen van Dijken told news agency ANP.
The app was built by the provinces of Utrecht, Zuid-Holland, Noord-Brabant, Limburg and Overijssel, with Drenthe, Gelderland and Groningen also connected. It replaces a patchwork of older regional cycling apps and is part of an infrastructure ministry campaign to encourage cycling.
Users earn points for each ride which can be exchanged for discounts, vouchers or donations to charity.
Earlier security concerns
Similar app-to-light architecture has run into trouble before. In 2020, ethical hackers showed that an earlier cyclist traffic-light app could be fooled into thinking phantom bikes were approaching, prompting the system to be taken offline and rebuilt.
A separate 2024 demonstration showed that older lights still in service until 2030 can be switched remotely using radio signals intended for emergency vehicles.
The makers of Da’s zo gefietst! say the app’s contact with each traffic light is temporary and cannot be traced back to an individual user or device.
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