While some cars these days are smart enough to drive themselves, the bike industry has remained largely untouched in terms of innovation. But a new company wants to pedal forward with what it's calling the world's first smart and connected bicycle.
A Kickstarter campaign for the Vanhawks Valour smart bike connects with a smartphone app and brings tech like GPS directly to the handle bars. The concept is part of a greater effort to help bikers keep their eyes on the road, especially during high-traffic commuting times.
The smart bike adds another product to the growing category of the "Internet of Things," which refers to the concept that all devices, objects and systems could be web connected and share information in the future. Experts believe this will have a widespread effect on the way we live our everyday lives by 2025.
The bike campaign has already raised more than $400,000 — well beyond its $100,000 funding goal. Backers can pre-order the bike now for $1,049 (single-speed fixed gear) or $1,199 for a multi-speed unit, both of which are said to ship in November.
"We designed the bike for those who commute in urban setting," Ali Zahid, co-founder and COO of Vanhawks, Sohaib Zahid. "Being commuters ourselves and having a manufacturer background, we wanted to create a bike that we would use everyday with safety in mind too."
Similar to a fitness wristband tracker, the bike keeps track of your riding progress, too: it monitors and logs your activity such as distance traveled, calories burned and duration. That data is housed in a corresponding app, where bikers can later analyze the details and set goals.
In addition to giving turn-by-turn directions, the bike gets smarter over time too — it learns where to avoid potholes and suggests the safest route. And because it's connected over a network, the company is alerted when one goes missing to help aid in its recovery.
Another helpful perk that every rider could use some help in is blind spot detection. The Valour picks up on haptic feedback in the handle bar grips when an object enters a blind spot and then alerts the rider.
The will also be open for developers to create accompanying apps that work with the product.
"We can expect developers to create app games that include racing with friends and use that telemetric data to figure more out about themselves," Zahid added.
IMAGE: VANHAWKS VALOUR