Belgian e-bike manufacturer Cowboy has temporarily suspended an interactive app that allows cyclists to race each other.
The company announced the move after city officials in Amsterdam called the in-app game absurd and irresponsible.
Amsterdam Mayor Femke Halsema said the game was “completely absurd”, while the city’s Deputy Mayor for Traffic Melanie van der Horst said she found it irresponsible to encourage people to race each other in a busy city.
“Amsterdam is not a race track and safety is not a game,” City Council member Elise Moerkops said during a debate on the issue, according to Dutch news outlet De Telegraaf.
“Cowboy turns e-bikes into deathbikes,” she added, referencing the number of e-bike causalities the city has experienced.
She further questioned whether the firm had a permit for such competitions, or whether it was essentially “organising illegal street races”, before saying the Public Prosecution Service should be informed.
Background
Earlier this month, Cowboy CEO Adrien Roose referenced the game on LinkedIn, saying “Rediscover the city while you race against other Cowboy riders and take part in a real competition – Pokemon Go, but on a bicycle.”
Following the backlash Roose then edited the post, which has now been deleted, to say the game had been paused pending a review.
“We will fully cooperate with the City of Amsterdam to discuss safety and are temporarily pausing the Race game while we review,” a Cowboy spokesperson told Cities Today.
“Our mission is to make cycling the most popular mode of transport, and we take safety seriously.
“We have demonstrated this over the years by developing innovative technology such as crash detection and predictive safety alerts. Our new in-app games, developed with hundreds of beta testers, are not live races, and we prompt riders to select safe environments before games begin.”
A spokesperson from the City of Amsterdam said “we will discuss [the app feature] soon with Cowboy.”
Bike safety
In March, Amsterdam announced it was one of six European municipalities set to test a system that can remotely limit the speed of e-bikes.
The system – developed by the Townmaking Institute, a non-profit group that creates mobility and safety programmes – is currently in an experimental phase and set to launch next year, but Deputy Mayor Van der Horst said she hoped it could boost safety.
“The number of accidents involving cyclists is alarmingly high,” she said.
“More than half of all electric cyclists ride faster than the permitted 25 kilometres per hour.
“Nowadays, electric bicycles are much more than a bicycle that rides a little faster. They are sometimes heavy beasts that cause serious injuries in the event of an accident.”
The number of cyclists seriously injured each year in the Netherlands has risen by 27 percent in the last decade, according to Dutch road safety group Veiligheid NL.
Image: fons-heijnsbroek-unsplash
The post Amsterdam mayor slams e-bike firm for racing app appeared first on Cities Today.