After Misjudging Market, Bike Maker Vanhawks (YC W16) Has Been Resurrected

Re:After Misjudging Market, Bike Maker Vanhawks (YC W16) Has... by davidvanhawks on Friday May 26, 2017 @03:29PM (#14426541)

In the short term, having this platform built in to a bike allows us to offer the turn by turn navigation with less distraction and much more robust data collection. That data collection will be used to improve the navigation based on real world feed back in the future.

In the long term, building this platform into a full bike means that we can offer plenty more - imagine being able to locate your bike if it was stolen or, imagine your bike could communicate with other vehicles around you to keep the rider safe.

This is not to say that we only offer full bikes in the future. However, having the full bike now is allowing us to perfect the platform and understand the full range of needs for our riders.

[ Parent | on HN ]

Re:After Misjudging Market, Bike Maker Vanhawks (YC W16) Has... by Finnucane on Friday May 26, 2017 @05:21PM (#14427283)

Still doesn't answer the question. What does it do that some other solution does not already do? I'm certainly not your target market, myself, since I know my way around the place I live and I am old enough to know how to find stuff on a map. If I happen to find myself someplace less familiar--I do sometimes go for long rides not knowing where I am going until I get there--Google/Apple maps are available at the touch of a button.

If you are offering bike location--how long before thieves/hackers figure out how to disable it? Will it work when the bike has no power? Will thieves be able to use the tracking signal to find expensive bikes to steal?

[ Parent | on HN ]