In & Motion: the electronic airbag vest that saves lives thanks to data – Les Numériques

“We must save the biker skin”, that could be the motto of In & Motion, this young French technology company discovered in 2017 during the CES in Las Vegas. At the time, the little Frenchies of Annecy arrived with a sleeveless vest with approved back protector to wear under a jacket; a second skin which is in fact an airbag without a cable to be connected to the handlebars.

In & Motion had its first success on the ski slopes, with a first vest developed in collaboration with the French ski cross team from 2011.

It will evolve until 2015, the year of the consecration, with the first ski airbag vest (Spine VPD 2.0 Airbag) intended for individuals, approved by the International Ski Federation and adopted by the French Ski Federation. Designed and produced in conjunction with the Swedish equipment manufacturer POC, this vest with an accelerometer detects the slightest loss of balance and is triggered in less than 100 milliseconds to protect vital parts of the body (spine, neck, chest, abdomen and hips).

From powder snow to MotoGP tracks

Drawing on its experience acquired in ski racing, In & Motion took an interest in MotoGP in 2016 in partnership with the equipment supplier Ixon. The design of a motorcycle airbag requires collecting as much data as possible – the sinews of war for In & Motion.

Covered with sensors, the motorcycle riders are helping to develop a prototype which will be offered to 500 volunteer motorcyclists across Europe at the same time. Called AirbagRevolution, this recruitment campaign aims to test the airbag vest for 6 months in all conditions and to achieve a total of one million kilometers to take into account the comments and improve the final product.

The first electronic airbag vest was marketed in 2018 in collaboration with Ixon. Subsequently, other clothing suppliers such as Furygan, Held, RST, Tucano Urbano and Klim adopted In & Motion technology, either in the form of a vest or by integrating it directly into the garment.

An In & Motion electronic airbag vest consists of the famous vest incorporating back protection from D3O, a British company whose eponymous polymer material is recognizable by its orange color. Its particularity is to change mechanical behavior depending on whether the deformation exerted is slow or fast. This kind of plasticine hardens immediately when subjected to an impact.

In addition to this backbone, there is the gas cartridge (Inflator) and the reusable airbag cushion which encompasses the cervical, spine, thorax and abdomen. The In & Box electronic box takes place in a protective cradle (Shell) located in the back. The set weighs 1.3 kg for the Furygan Fury Airbag model that we had the opportunity to wear under a summer jacket.

At no time do you feel any discomfort and the arms are free to move. After a few kilometers of driving, you even end up forgetting its presence.
The In & Box looks like a big smartphone battery equipped with 6 sensors (3 accelerometers and 3 gyroscopes) controlled by a house algorithm called Turini which must decide whether the airbag is triggered.

It continuously analyzes body movements, up to 1000 times per second. In a motorcycle accident, the body’s first impact is between 70 milliseconds and 3 seconds. It takes 25 milliseconds – depending on the size of the cushion – for the airbag vest to trigger. The only requirement is that the cushion must remain under pressure for more than 3 seconds. For example, an object takes 70 ms to drop from 2.4 cm in height and 450 ms from 1 m. We immediately understand the importance of reaction time.

Note that In & Motion has also developed an airbag vest for riding, the Horse Pilot. Unlike its motorcycle or ski counterparts, this one has wired security so as not to be triggered if the horse falls with its rider hanging on.

Computer simulations and accident data

To design a motorcycle airbag vest, it is not enough to place a few airbags here and there. First of all, it is necessary to study the mechanisms of a motorcycle accident. Thus, Gustave Eiffel University, specializing in the study of cities and the urbanization process, relied on the Rhône register. Since 1995, this department has recorded all types of accidents, the consequences and injuries observed on accident victims. These very comprehensive estimates can be extrapolated to the national level.

Thus, in two thirds of cases, bodily accidents result from a collision between the motorcycle and another vehicle. If, in an urban environment, the impact speed – the driving speed – is 30 km / h, on a departmental road, it will be 50 km / h.

By combining these real cases with simulations, the researchers were able to determine that during an accident, trauma occurs between 70 milliseconds and 3 seconds. By dissecting the results, it turns out that “the thorax is a strategic and priority area to protect“in addition to the head. You should know that chest injuries can lead to”severe internal bleeding“.

The various computer simulations have shown that wearing an airbag vest makes it possible to reduce the severity of accidents (AIS) classified on a scale of 1 to 6. Thus, a bill billed will be considered as minor (AIS 1), while three fractures of these same ribs will be classified as severe (AIS 3). Statistics show that a biker has 68 times more “risk of having an AIS type 3 injury and more than a motorist“.

It should be noted that the electronic airbag vest of the In & Motion type will not prevent an accident, but combined with a motorcycle jacket, it allows the AIS level to be divided by 2. As a result, it gives the possibility of going from a serious accident to a less serious one, or even nothing at all. It has been found that the reduction in injury to soft organs is on average 38%.

Data and artificial intelligence for daily updates

One of the peculiarities of In & Motion technology is called connectivity. Each time the rider recharges his In & Box box, the latter sends anonymized and encrypted data via wifi to In & Motion’s servers.

Once on the servers, these are classified in two “silos“independent (driving on one side and user account on the other) for further processing. In & Motion specifies that only two people within the company are authorized to cross the two silos. Today, nearly 30,000 motorcyclists and motorcyclists equipped with In & Motion provide data, representing 40 million kilometers (300 terabytes), or the equivalent of 50 trips back and forth between the Earth and the Moon in 3 years of driving.

The goal is to provide each user with the experience of the entire community. Indeed, for the same fall, the rider’s reaction will not be the same and will depend on his experience. This accumulation of data for a type of fall will benefit the electronic box, which will be able to make the decision to trigger the airbag more easily and quickly. In the end, this mass of data will make it possible to define sets (in the mathematical sense) of falls, themselves subdivided into a multitude of particular cases.

To differentiate normal driving from a fall, In & Motion uses artificial intelligence, which is based on the data collected by the 6 sensors. Thus, on a computer screen, appear on the same plane of the blue and red balls. Blue corresponds to a normal situation, while red symbolizes the fall. For a more in-depth analysis, the analyst in charge of the data will add a second and then a third dimension. Then it’s the turn of the AI ​​to take control by adding a 4th, a 5th, or even a 6th dimension, not visible to a human brain.

The whole point of a muldimensional plan is to “determine the area that separates normal situations from falls and check the relevance of the model each time a situation is brought up to us“explains Valentin Honoré. Concretely, if a red or blue ball is not in its place, then the computer model must be changed, leading to an update for the entire community.

Since its introduction on the market, In & Motion technology has received 11 updates, compared to only one for some competitors! All wearbags incorporating In & Motion technology have received a 5-star rating from the SRA ranking, the benchmark body for insurers. Today, more than 1000 falls with deployment of the airbag have occurred in 2 years. The coverage rate for falls is 91%, or even 95% above 25 km / h. The goal is to reach 100% by 2023 with zero unwanted inflation (currently only one every 10 million kilometers).

But if the frontal collision is the best controlled fall (100% detection) with no less than 240 modeled frontal impact situations, the other falls (high side, low side…) Are a little more difficult to detect. However, the firm does its utmost to analyze them and “cover them at best“but some falls”a little out of frame“are not yet covered. But as Valentin Honoré explains,”(…) thanks to our data collection method, we are able to identify them and optimize the detection strategy“.

Personalization according to usage

In & Motion thinks about the future of the brand. Thus, the French company has integrated the emergency call via Liberty Rider and set up a special detection mode for all-terrain use (Off Road). Improving battery life (25 hours) is a subject the Frenchman is also working on. It is also a question of developing motorcycle wearbags according to uses, such as the circuit, motocross, the track… always with the main objective of saving lives.

When it comes to prices, In & Motion offers two options. The Classic billed at € 399 including the In & Box including updates, a 2-year warranty, but without the emergency call. The Revolution formula is a kind of LOA at 120 € / year or 12 € / month with the possibility of suspending your subscription at any time and benefiting from a new generation of box after 3 years of rental.