Piaggio, an Italian scooter company unveiled an electric bike that provides innovative theft protection.
Called the Wi-Bike, it comes with an electric motor that can keep you cruising a little over 15 miles per hour, according to the Wi-Bike website. The bike was unveiled at EICMA, an international bike exhibition, in Milan, Italy over the weekend.
Piaggio has made security a priority for the Wi-Bike.
The electric bike comes with a display, motor, and battery — which are all connected via a unique code that must be entered to get the bike working. The display is about four inches long and comes with USB ports so you can charge your phone, which comes in handy if you're heavily relying on battery-draining navigation systems.
To disable the bike, owners can remove the display altogether, which will prevent anyone from accessing the bike even if they have the code. If the owner doesn't want to constantly disable the display, they can program it so anti-theft works if their phone is at least 16 feet away from the bike.
But in case that method fails, an integrated GPS monitoring system will send a text message to the owner if the bike is being moved while the display is disengaged or the phone is not in range. The GPS can also provide updates on the bike's location, functioning similarly to the Find my iPhone app.
The display allows owners to attach their phone and enter the Wi-Bike app. From there, users can choose what type of motor assistance they want (there are three levels) and set up navigation. The display will measure basic things, like cadence, on its own.
The Wi-Bike app can be used as for exercise purposes, but it requires you already have a few tools in your arsenal. For example, the app can display your heart rate if you have a heart rate monitor it can hook up to. The app will also estimate calories burned and how far you traveled.
The bike can be charged using a normal household electric socket and takes three hours to fully charge.
The Wi-Bike will be available in the United States Spring 2016, a Piaggio spokesperson told Tech Insider.
