Beyond Compliance: Rethinking Safety in the Age of Intelligent Mobility
Safety in mobility should go beyond compliance. This article explores how preventive sensing can help riders become aware of potential risks earlier—before a critical moment becomes an accident.
Shih-An Yu, Founder, President & Chairman, Terasilic — Ph.D., Columbia University
9/6/20262 min read
Safety in Mobility Deserves More Than Compliance
Recently, I read a thoughtful critique of the UCI's new regulation limiting handlebar length on racing bikes. The discussion raised a question that goes well beyond racing: does meeting a safety requirement necessarily make a product safer?
Regulations have an important role to play. They establish minimum requirements and give the industry a common framework to work from. But they are, by nature, a baseline.
The risks riders face on the road are not always something a regulation can address. Traffic changes from second to second. A vehicle approaches from behind. A rider changes direction. Two road users make decisions at the same time.
These situations are difficult to solve with rules alone.
They require better ways of understanding what is happening around the rider.
The Industry Is Taking Safety More Seriously
At Eurobike 2025, I joined a panel discussion on the EN 17860 cargo bike safety standard. Much of the conversation focused on structural requirements, testing, and compliance.
What I found encouraging was the level of attention being given to safety across the industry.
As bikes become more capable and more people use e-bikes and other forms of light mobility, safety can no longer be treated as something added at the end of the development process.
It needs to be considered when the product is designed.
But I believe there is another step beyond compliance.
From Reactive Safety to Preventive Safety
Traditional safety systems often focus on what happens when something goes wrong: protecting the rider during an impact, reducing the severity of an accident, or meeting a defined safety requirement.
Technology gives us the opportunity to intervene earlier.
If a system can detect a vehicle approaching from behind, identify its movement, and provide useful information to the rider before the situation becomes critical, the rider has something that a passive safety measure cannot provide:
time.
At Terasilic, this is how we think about preventive safety.
Our work in millimeter-wave sensing is focused on helping mobility systems understand what is happening around the rider and turning that information into timely awareness.
The goal is not to make decisions for the rider.
It is to give the rider better information before a decision needs to be made.
That distinction matters.
Safety Should Start Before the Critical Moment
For a rider, the most important moment is often not the moment of impact.
It is the few seconds before it.
That is when there may still be time to slow down, change position, or simply become more aware of what is approaching.
This is where sensing technology can play a different role in mobility safety.
Instead of asking only whether a product complies with a safety requirement, we should also ask:
Can the system help the rider understand a risk early enough to do something about it?
I believe this is where the next generation of mobility safety will develop.
Where Do We Go From Here?
The safety conversation continued to evolve at Eurobike 2026 in Frankfurt. Mechanical, electrical, battery, and functional safety all received increasing attention as the industry works to make light mobility safer and more reliable.
But compliance should not be the end of the conversation.
The next question is what technology can do beyond the minimum requirement.
At Terasilic, we believe sensing is an important part of that next step.
We will continue working with mobility brands, designers, and OEMs to explore how technologies such as millimeter-wave radar can bring earlier awareness and more preventive safety to everyday mobility.
Safety should not begin when an accident happens. It should begin with knowing what is around you before it does.
