Air pollution is one of the world’s biggest silent killers. Poor air quality can lead to stroke, heart disease, lung cancer, and other chronic respiratory diseases. The World Health Organization says 4.2 million deaths a year are a result of polluted air.

Bike commuters face this problem on a daily basis. However, help is on its way from Belgian ebike maker, Cowboy.

In the latest update of its app — out this week — Cowboy has added a navigation feature which allows riders to plan their routes based on air quality.

Air quality data is supplied by Breezometer, the same company that supplies air quality data to the Apple Weather app. This allows the Cowboy app to design a route using localized air quality data, and direct riders to the cleanest roads to get them to their destination.

Cowboy says it’s the first ebike maker to include a navigate-by-air quality feature in its app. That certainly seems to be the case.

There are a bunch of air quality apps out there like, Breezometer, Local Haze, and Plume. There are also cycling focused navigation apps, like All Trails, that let users overlay air quality data on maps. But I haven’t come across an app that blends the two.

I must doth my cap to Cowboy, because this is a neat and simple idea that should have dreamed up sooner. As someone who is always planning cycling routes, it’s great to have another choice on top of the standard fastest, shortest, or most popular route options.

If you’re cycling to work, you probably value your health, so this feature just makes sense.

There is a downside, though.

Because the navigate-by-air quality feature is part of the Cowboy app, you can’t access it unless you own a Cowboy ebike.

So, a message to navigation app developers: please give us air quality-based navigation options! It’s a feature all satnavs should have.

We are fans of Cowboy’s ebike here at TNW, check out what my esteemed colleague Callum Booth had to say when he slung his leg over one of the first versions 2019.

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Experiment shows how easy it is to ‘drive’ a Tesla from the passenger seat

Apparently, Tesla’s Autopilot keeps on driving, even if there is no one on the driver’s seat!

Following a recent fatal crash in Texas , two engineers from Consumer Reports , an American non-profit consumer organization, showed how easy it is to deceive Autopilot’s driver monitoring system.

Jake Fisher, CR’s senior director of auto testing, sat in the driver’s seat and Kelly Funkhouser, CR’s program manager for vehicle interface testing, sat in the rear seat.

They tested their 2020 Tesla Model Y on their half mile closed test track.

Surprisingly, it took only a few simple steps to trick Autopilot.

As the Tesla determines the presence of a driver by sensing weight on the steering wheel, they only needed to place a small weighted chain on it.

Then, Fisher slid over into the passenger’s seat.

“The car drove up and down the half-mile lane of our track, repeatedly, never noting that no one was in the driver’s seat, never noting that there was no one touching the steering wheel, never noting there was no weight on the seat,” he describes.

What’s more, Tesla’s so- called “cabin cameras” don’t meet such standards – their sole purpose is to be activated in cases of emergency, to collect crash-related data.

This is another serious blow for Tesla’s safety mechanisms. The two engineers deemed Autopilot’s safeguards insufficient.

Their evaluation corresponds with the Insurance Institute for Highway Safety’s (IIHS) recommendations concerning the necessity for ensuring drivers’ attention when steering automation and adaptive cruise control are employed.

“Tesla is falling behind other automakers like GM and Ford that, on models with advanced driver assist systems, use technology to make sure the driver is looking at the road,” Fisher comments.

Do EVs excite your electrons? Do ebikes get your wheels spinning? Do self-driving cars get you all charged up?

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