VanMoof ebikes is at present “exploring all potential routes out of its debt” after rumors of a pending chapter. However the weblog 9to5Mac highlights one other concern.
“If the corporate goes underneath, and the servers go offline, that might go away ebike homeowners unable to even unlock their bikes.”
Whereas unlocking is activated by Bluetooth when your cellphone comes into vary of the bike, it depends on a rolling key code — and that operate in flip depends on entry to a VanMoof server. If the corporate goes bust, then no server, no key code era, no unlock.
A rival ebike firm, Belgian firm Cowboy, has stepped in to supply an answer. TNW stories that it has created an app which permits VanMoof homeowners to generate and save their very own digital key, which can be utilized rather than one created by a VanMoof server. You probably have a VanMoof bike, seize the app now, because it requires an preliminary connection to the VanMoof server to fetch your present keycode.
“We do not seize any information,” explains the app’s web page within the Apple retailer. “All the things is saved securely in your cellphone so you possibly can have a direct connexion to your bike if VanMoof providers are down. Simply generate your native key and luxuriate in peace of thoughts once more.” (They add that the app was developed throughout a one-day hackathon, “as we share the assumption that each single bike deserves to be on the highway.”)
However 9to5Mac additionally suggests a longer-term resolution. “Maybe there needs to be a authorized requirement for important software program to be mechanically open-sourced within the occasion of chapter, in order that there could be the choice of techier homeowners banding collectively to host and preserve the server-side code?”
