At CES in January, Ford threw down its "Smart Mobility Plan" to make transport easier using a combination of cars and electric bikes. Today at MWC, it just revealed the actual "bike" part of that with two new employee-designed prototypes. The foldable MoDe:Me for commuters was built in conjunction with Dahon, while the bigger MoDe:Pro -- built by an in-house team -- is aimed at bike couriers and delivery services. Both come with 200-watt motors and 9-amp-hour batteries that deliver pedal-aided speeds of up to 25 km/h (16 mph). Ford also revealed how you can use them along with cars and public transport to commute quicker using its iPhone 6-compatible MoDe:Link app.
After you enter your destination, the app uses "multimodal" navigation to plan your trip using vehicle, public transportation and bike routes. You can filter your trip by toll or parking cost and the amount of time you want to bike compared to driving. From there, handle-bar grip vibrations signal you when to turn, and even trip the e-bike turn signals automatically. The electric pedal assist level can be auto-adjusted based on your heart rate, to the point where you barely have to pedal. The whole thing is compatible with Ford's voice-connected BlackBerry-powered Sync system, of course.
Ford has tested e-bikes before, and hasn't said when, or if, it'll turn the concepts into reality. However, it's currently running 25 experiments across the world as part of the Smart Mobility project. Among those is the Info Cycle tests happening in Palo Alto and Europe (see the video below) to determine how bikes can aid urban transportation. The automaker said the aim is to "connect all of these transport options together... to (help commuters) seamlessly move between cars, buses, trains and e-bikes and react to changing traffic situations."
Aaron Souppouris contributed to this report.
Filed under: Transportation
Source: Ford
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