Garmin yesterday bought iKubu, a company that is designing computer vision and radar systems for cycling. iKubu has been working on Backtracker, a low-energy bike radar that lets cyclists track vehicles coming up behind them via a LED device on the handlebars.
The Backtracker uses a rear-facing radar that also has a flashing caution light, which flashes faster the closer a car gets to the cyclist.
“iKubu has found a way to implement short-range radar into a low-power system that addresses a common concern among cyclists – identifying potential hazards that are approaching them from behind,” Cliff Pemble, Garmin’s president and CEO, said in a press release. “We are delighted to add this technology to the Garmin portfolio.”
While Garmin has not yet commented on its intentions for Backtracker, it is almost a certainty that integration with the Edge cycling computers is planned.
Besides tracking vehicles with radar, the rear-mounted unit flashes dynamically - with flash rate increasing as vehicles approach
Years ago, Garmin bought a small company called Metrigear, which was developing a power meter that existed solely instead the pedal spindle. That idea eventually became the Vector power meter pedals.
Time will tell what form, name and function the Backtracker will morph into under Garmin, but one thing is clear: Backtracker just got a lot more resource behind it.
"Garmin gives us the resources to develop, bring to market, and showcase our products that we otherwise would not have," Franz Struwig, managing director of iKubu, said in a press release.
Most of the former employees of iKubu will become employees of Garmin’s existing subsidiary in South Africa, Garmin said, and will continue to operate primarily as a research and development center in Stellenbosch, South Africa.
Terms of the deal were not disclosed.
