Ford Motor Company announced Tuesday it is entering the implementation phase of its Ford Smart Mobility Plan, and the company is bringing its digital-savvy smartbike concept along with it.<\/p>\n
The corporation unveiled the MoDe:Flex at the Further with Ford trends conference, an eBike with the versatility to provide hands-free, turn-by-turn navigation while also being able to track your heart rate.<\/p>\n
Connecting to users’ smartphones by utilizing the MoDe:Link app, the MoDe:Flex provides up to the minute information pertaining to navigation, weather, time and traffic, among other features.<\/p>\n
“The fact that it communicates so well with your phone, it really brings more options to the consumer,” Ford Motor Company Senior Creative Designer Bruce Williams told Mashable<\/em>.<\/p>\n But, it doesn’t stop there. In addition to the compatibility with an iPhone, Ford announced a new extension to the MoDe:Link app for the smartwatch would bring all of the real-time data to a person’s wrist.<\/p>\n A user with a smartwatch can then activate a feature such as “no sweat” mode, which, based on the rider’s heart rate, can increase electric pedal assist to ensure a rider does not break a sweat. So, for those bike riders who have the issue of showing up to work with a dampened shirt, there’s an app for that.<\/p>\n Williams said because of the mass usage of applications that track health and fitness, it was a no-brainer for Ford to implement something similar.<\/p>\n “I think it really parallels societal trends,” he said. ” Five, 10 years ago, this isn\u2019t something that would necessarily be on someone\u2019s consciousness and now it is. Since it is, it becomes something you immediately start to prioritize.”<\/p>\n There’s more. Ford also announced that the wearable device comes with safety notifications.<\/p>\n A hazard such as a pothole can trigger the handlebars to vibrate and the smartwatch to beep as a warning signal.<\/p>\n The unveiling comes just three months after the company introduced both the Mode:Me and Mode:Pro eBikes, models intended for commuters and delivery services, respectively. With the MoDe:Flex, Ford is diving into a third consumer base: The “bike enthusiast.”<\/p>\n By presenting a model for the commuter, the courier and for the person who Williams said, “sees a bike as part of their lifestyle,” he believes Ford has supplied three distinct solutions for those using a bike for transportation.<\/p>\n In addition, the devices are all fitted with a motor and battery and can be stored in the back of any vehicle.<\/p>\n \u201cWe have learned a lot in the past six months, and now are ready to put insights into action,” Mark Field, Ford president and CEO said in a Ford Motor Company press release.<\/p>\n Those insights being acted upon, are a trio of eBikes that offer a connectivity with smartphones that Williams said no other bikes provide.<\/p>\n The MoDe:Flex also appears to further highlight the company’s continual push towards not just four-wheel transportation.<\/p>\n “We\u2019re looking at everything,” Williams said, when referencing the eBike prototypes. “This is an open experiment and we’re looking at all different (consumer) options.”<\/p>\n <\/p>\n Source: Mashable<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":" Ford Motor Company announced Tuesday it is entering the implementation phase of its Ford Smart Mobility Plan, and the company is bringing its digital-savvy smartbike concept along with it. The corporation unveiled the MoDe:Flex at the Further with Ford trends conference, an eBike with the versatility to provide hands-free, turn-by-turn navigation while also being able […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":5,"featured_media":128123,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"jnews-multi-image_gallery":[],"jnews_single_post":[],"jnews_primary_category":[],"jnews_social_meta":[],"jnews_override_counter":[],"footnotes":""},"categories":[],"tags":[18],"class_list":["post-128122","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","tag-dr-akwasi-osei"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/citifmonline.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/128122","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/citifmonline.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/citifmonline.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/citifmonline.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/5"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/citifmonline.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=128122"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/citifmonline.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/128122\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/citifmonline.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/media\/128123"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/citifmonline.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=128122"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/citifmonline.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=128122"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/citifmonline.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=128122"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}