Artificial intelligence helps design an ultra-aerodynamic bike

Thanks to software developed by Neural Concept, an EPFL spin-off, bicycle engineers can quickly calculate the most aerodynamic shape for a bike. The software – which is being presented in Stockholm today at the International Conference on Machine Learning – applies artificial intelligence to a set of user-defined specifications. Engineers have already used the program to design a bike that they hope will break the world speed record this fall in Nevada. The current record for a bicycle travelling across flat road is 133.78 km/h, set in 2012 by a Dutch team at the World Human Powered Speed Challenge, which takes place every year in the Nevada desert. But this September, a team from IUT Annecy aims to beat that record.