Every time Taco Carlier, co-founder of VanMoof, asked his friends why they wouldn’t buy one of his city-bikes, he always got the same answer: “It will get stolen anyway”. Now that VanMoof’s smartbike has a solution to the problem, sales have increased tremendously!
Unfortunately, every Dutch citizen is familiar with the phenomenon: Bike theft. Reporting the crime to the police rarely results in a reunion between bike and rightful owner. Consequently, biker-locks are often more expensive than the bike that they’re attached to.
Taco (39) and Ties (38) Carlier discovered that the reasonable fear a bike will get stolen is the main reason people won’t invest in the designer bike they actually want. The brothers decided to get rid of this problem for once and for all. Their solution? The VanMoof SmartBike.
The VanMoof SmartBike was designed with the intention be the smartest thing on wheels. It comes completely key-less, and can be unlocked with the touch of a hand on the bike. It ensures you arrive dry with its smartphone weather notifications. And, best of all, the SmartBike comes with a “Peace of Mind Service: VanMoof promises to return back stolen bikes within two weeks. If not, they will replace it!
A partnership with Vodafone resulted in a smart Internet-of-Things solution: an integrated sim-card that traces a stolen bike in no-time. “With our electric bike, that we brought to the market 2 years ago, we used a different technology that used a lot of electricity,” says Taco. “That’s why we decided to use a different technique for our non-electric bicycles that works on dynamo generated electricity. We developed a chip that we implement at a hidden place, deep in the frame of the bicycle. Because the frame works as an antenna, it can be detected by Vodafone’s mobile towers. That is costing a lot less electricity that our previous GPS tracing system. Two weeks ago, the first SmartBike was stolen. Within a few hours, it was found in Dordrecht.”
How that works? The moment someone disables or breaks the lock of your SmartBike, you receive a notification. In that case, VanMoof will track the bike’s location. Note that you won’t be able to see exactly where your bike is hanging. The reason is that VanMoof doesn’t want you to track down thieves yourself. “We don’t believe it is safe or fair for our riders to have to do that” Taco says. Instead, the company will work with the police to recover your bikes.
Want to calculate how many bikes can get stolen for your new VanMoof SmartBike? You can now place your preorder for a small €1400. Worth it? What do you think?
Resources
AD (2016) Samenwerking Vodafone en VanMoof. De Ondernemer, Algemeen Dagblad.
TechnInsider (2016) This vanmoof smartbike is impossible to steal. TechnInsider. [Online] http://www.techinsider.io/this-vanmoof-smartbike-is-impossible-to-steal-2016-5 [Accessed: 9 october 2016]
VanMoof (2016) Smart Straight. VanMoof Bikes. [Online] https://www.vanmoof.com/en_nl/bikes/smart-straight [Accessed: 9 october 2016]
Vodafone (2016) Vodafone helpt VanMoof met innoveren van hun smartbike. Vodafone zakelijk. [Online] https://www.vodafone.nl/kleinbedrijf/shop/vanmoof/ [Accessed: 9 october 2016]
Yeah they’re really cool, but not affordable (for students). I also wouldn’t want to park such bike outside, even with the guaranteed bike recovery*. Yes, I’m one of the people who has a more expensive lock than his bike is worth (AXA Cherto Compact 95, awesome lock, you’ll need an angle grinder to cut the chain).
I looked into the Van Moof bikes a while back and the bike recovery comes with an asterisk* attached. Van Moof will spend two weeks tracking down your bike, and if they can’t find it, they’ll replace it. It is only free for the first two years you own the bike (this is a big problem with IoT devices, the server costs are enormous and no one wants to pay for it). For the recovery service itself they charge a one-off recovery fee of €98,-.
So if your 1400€ bike gets stolen you lose 98€. If your 50€ bike gets stolen you buy another one for 50€ and a bigger lock.
Great article, definitely as I have never heard of this company. However, I have seen a documentary lately in which this same kind of technology is integrated in cars. Also, this car got stolen and was traced by the owner and reported to the police. The problem with this technology is that the police cannot immediately take action to take back your belongings as laws do not provide policemen to immediately search private places (where they thieves might keep your belongings). Therefore, the service of VanMoof is questionable. Furthermore, one should be able to explain why one is “stealing” its own bike, even when the thieve might claim it is his bike. Therefore, the idea is great but laws should also be adjusted in such a way that we can freely use this service without any legal hassle.
Thanks for the post, enjoyed reading it as I never heard of it. What does amaze me, however, is how much this company is relying on a (in my opinion very vulnerable) technology to stay effective in the short-medium run. I am referring to the use of the SIM/antenna construction.
Many cars and motorcycles already have a tracker installed from the factory, and thieves have worked out incredibly effective tactics to either disable these or to block/jam the signal (for instance https://www.theguardian.com/technology/2010/feb/22/car-thieves-using-gps-jammers). I find it highly unlikely that the same will not happen for the construction VanMoof uses. And in contrast to the (important but still just) addition it is for the cars/motorcycles it appears to be the primary USP for these bikes.
I am therefore very curious whether VanMoof will be able to continue offering their service (replace after two weeks) once the security system got cracked.
On a sidenote, the price is lower than I expected for a bike from such a small brand with all this equipment and technology.
Thanks for sharing Lotte! It was a very interesting blog to read and I didn’t know of the integration of IoT in bikes yet. I think, that if I were to make a lot of money, I would consider buying a vanMoof, but for now it is totally out of my league… As I have had the same Gazelle bike since I was 11, I believe that investing in a quality bike gives you a lot of comfort and it makes riding your bike a lot more fun if everyting works. Also the retreival service is a really nice addition, but I am curious what this service will cost after the first two years.
Thanks for sharing this article Lotte, I think 1400EU is definitely worth it even though I would personally not spend 1400EU on a bike. E-bikes are really emerging. I see that that Mediamarkt is also starting to sell E-bikes. The bikes that they sell often cost even more than 1400EU, without the anti theft simcard system. I think that if someone would spend that much money on a bike the fear of theft is a really big factor , so if this system is really waterproof I think that is a very exciting development for a whole lot of people including me! Except not at this particular moment.