• March 17, 2025

    UofI PI, Michael Lowry, is working to improve bicycle and motorcycle safety in South America

    UofI PI Dr. Michael Lowry is currently on sabbatical leave in South America, where he is working to improve bicycle and motorcycle safety.

    In fall 2024, he collaborated with a research team in Santiago, Chile, to study on-demand delivery traffic, which has surged globally due to mobile apps like DoorDash and Uber Eats. The on-demand delivery market is valued at nearly $250 billion and is projected to reach $750 billion by 2033.

    In urban areas, the rise in delivery traffic—primarily bicycles and motorcycles—has significantly impacted congestion, safety, and infrastructure planning. Lowry’s team partnered with local city planners to analyze delivery traffic using computer vision, an AI-driven approach to advanced image processing. They trained a computer vision model with nearly 1,000 images of delivery bicycles and motorcycles and are analyzing video feeds from 30 CCTV cameras across Santiago. Their findings will help guide future transportation infrastructure investments.

    In spring 2025, Lowry moved to Medellín, Colombia, where he is working with a research team to enhance bicycle demand forecasting by using computer vision data for model calibration.