Netcompany Ineos to use AI-based aero testing app from 2027

Netcompany Ineos are set to reveal a partnership with digital aerodynamics app, AiRO, which will see it use a consumer-available app and artificial intelligence for its aero testing in the 2027 season.

The AiRO app, which launched a new AI-based CFD simulation tool called Vayu on Wednesday, promises to bring aero testing to a broader audience via bike fitters across the world.

It was founded just 14 months ago, and already claims to have multiple other WorldTour teams as paying customers.

AiRO confirmed it will be working with Netcompany Ineos in 2027, and Cyclingnews understands a fuller announcement of the partnership will be made next week.

Founder, Ingmar Jungnickel – who cut his teeth with the German Olympic team, Specialized’s S-Racing division and the development of the last edition Specialized S-Works Venge – founded the company as a spin-off from a similar project he developed for the USA speedskating squad.

He ran a select group of media, including Cyclingnews, through the AiRO app, which spans road, gravel, mountain bike, and time trialling.

The app is available to anyone via specialist bike fitters for approximately $200 per session, and works by creating a 'digital twin' of each rider.

Using photographs, specialised software turns the images into a 3D simulation of the rider, which you can use to then run app-based aero experiments, such as swapping helmets or adjusting the rider’s position.

By integrating AI and its new 'Vayu' add-on, Jungnickel explains he has generated a long list of potential benefits.

One of these, which he caveats is a future innovation currently under construction, is the ability to instantly test 20+ different helmets (which have already been scanned into the app) on one rider, each in dozens of head positions, effectively recreating over 400 wind tunnel tests at the click of a button.

If Josh Tarling stops wearing a Kask helmet next year, we may able to attribute that decision to this feature, but there are of course other sponsorship agreements to navigate there.

A second feature is to immediately test over 100 small rider position changes – arms, head, shrug, etc – and order them by the available improvement. Working with the bike fitter, the rider can then replicate these positions to check whether they are actually achievable and sustainable in the real world.

The Netcompany Ineos deal is the brand’s first official partnership with a team, but based on existing work with teams, Jungnickel’s expectation is that the British squad will use it alongside real wind tunnel testing to help with testing the full squad rather than just the top riders, without the increased time and financial commitment that doing so in a wind tunnel would need.

He also says teams are excited by the opportunity to test riders' road bike positions, which he says takes longer and is less repeatable in a wind tunnel or velodrome setting.

Finally, he predicts that by having a digital twin of all the team's riders, the team will be able to quickly and cheaply test ideas, without needing the rider present.

And from there, if a new, faster position is found, but where a biomechanical concern exists, they can work with coaches and biomechanics experts to formulate a plan before the rider makes the switch and potentially causes an injury.

The full scope of the partnership is still being worked out, and details are expected to follow soon.

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