Georgia Tech to Test 'Smart Locks'

Printer-friendly version

Georgia Tech is getting a $50,000 grant from the Ford Motor Co. Fund to test a new "smart lock" technology for bicycles in Emory University's bike-share program.

The student-developed system will install wireless and GPS technology on Emory's fleet of bicycles, allowing users to check
them out via text messaging and administrators to track the bikes' use from a central server. The smart locks will connect wirelessly with the server, securing the bikes when they are not in use.

The money is from the Ford College Community Challenge, which gives grants to college programs that use school resources to address an unmet need on campus or in the local community.

Emory has had a bike-share program since 2007. The new smart-lock bikes will be available at Emory starting next summer
and eventually will be expanded to Georgia Tech and to neighborhoods between the two Atlanta campuses.

AP