Along with its recent i Vision AMBY e-bike, BMW’s also working on another project that you could see as the next evolutionary step. It’s called the BMW Motorrad Vision AMBY, and like the e-bike, it’s aimed at urban mobility, despite its dirt bike stylings. It’s one of five EVs that BMW exhibited at Munich’s IAA Mobility 2021 show.

The AMBY is built for use within city limits; it comes with three riding modes programmed in, limited to 25 km/h, 45 km/h and then 60 km/h. BMW doesn’t share numbers on motor output, battery capacity, or recharging time, but does estimate range at 100 kilometres.

This machine comes with a 26-inch front wheel and 24-inch rear wheel, both shod with semi-knobby tires. With an 830 mm seat height and styling generally ripped from the offroad world, this is definitely marketed towards riders who want to get off-pavement. This AMBY (it stands for “Adaptive Mobility”) weighs 65 kilograms, and has disc brakes and a bicycle front end. Hrmmm. Hopefully those forks are up to the task … When some of the first battery bike manufacturers explored this motorcycle-lite space about a decade ago, their efforts were hampered by using light-duty bicycle parts. Surely BMW’s smarter than that?

While BMW doesn’t share many mechanical specs for the bike, it does make much ballyhoo over the bike’s potential for smartphone integration. According to the press release, this AMBY will come with a smartphone app that can be used to manage the bike’s power modes. It may even be configured with biometric recognition, essentially functioning as the bike’s “key.” If it sees the owner, it will power up. If a stranger leaps aboard, it’s a no-go. BMW also suggests the app could be configured to manage the bike to keep configured to the riders’ licence. At the AMBY’s higher power settings, the rider would require a motorcycle licence and insurance, and the app could be configured to bar riders without proper paperwork from accessing those higher power settings.

BMW also suggests the app could tie into geo-fencing protocols, and restrict the bike to local speed limits. In other words: If the app senses you’re in a 50 km/h zone, then it could restrict you from going any faster than that.

Obviously, some people will welcome such restrictions (teens’ parents, insurers, government regulators—the usual worry warts), but the bike-buying public may find such arrangement disagreeable. But, like it or not, as Big Brother increasingly inserts himself into every aspect of our lives, this may be the reality of using public roads.