Copenhagen Wheel Gives Bicycles A Boost

08:27

December 18, 2013

Copenhagen Wheel co-inventor Assaf Biderman outside the Here & Now studios. (Jesse Costa/Here & Now)

Install the wheel, download the Copenhagen Wheel app, and you're ready to go. (Jesse Costa/Here & Now)

The Copenhagen Wheel is a back wheel outfitted with a rechargeable battery that gives a bicycle rider a boost when going uphill. The battery is charged when riding downhill and braking.

The wheel is engineered and marketed by Superpedestrian, after being initially developed at MIT's SENSEable City Lab as a research project sponsored by the mayor of Copenhagen.

Copenhagen Wheel co-inventor Assaf Biderman joins Here & Now's Jeremy Hobson to discuss the technology, which he hopes will make commuting by bike easier and more attractive.

Guest

Assaf Biderman, co inventor of the Copenhagen Wheel. He teaches at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology, where he is the associate director of MIT's SENSEable City Lab.

This segment aired on December 18, 2013.