SmartBike and SmartLock: devices that answer Vietnam’s motorbike theft culture

Vietnam is a motorbike nation. Surrounding countries like Thailand, the Philippines, and Indonesia, with similar populations to Vietnam, have slowly made the transition into cars. They’re full of car traffic. But Vietnam’s traffic jams are unique. And that presents a huge market for motorbike products and services.

Enter Digi-Gps: SmartLock and SmartBike

Two such solutions are the SmartBike and the SmartLock, made by a team of engineers out of a company called Digi-Gps.

Now, let’s imagine you have a motorbike first. And just for the sake of storytelling, your motorbike is really nice, and lots of thieves want to steal it. That’s where the SmartLock and SmartBike come in.

The SmartLock, which costs 500,000 VND ($25), is a bluetooth-enabled device that basically locks your motorbike if you walk more than 10 meters away from it. 10 meters, and it automatically shuts off and locks. Within 30 meters, it will send a text message to your phone if anyone touches or tries to steal your motorbike. Beyond 30 meters, and you won’t be able to get those text messages. But basically, no one will be able to turn on your motorbike without your bluetooth activated smartphone nearby. The SmartLock is tapped into your motorbikes electrical system.

Now, let’s say you’ve got some extra cash. The SmartBike goes for 1.6 million VND ($80) and it’s much more sophisticated. The larger device takes all the basic features of the bluetoothy SmartLock and adds a SIM card to the equation. Thus, you can text your motorbike to turn it off (with a smartphone or dumbphone) via SMS or your iOS app. On top of this, you can track exactly where your device is via GPS. Basically, SmartLock is about locking, and SmartBike is about tracking and locking. Both of them also use the bike’s own honking system to turn into an alarm.

Now, if you’ve got a motorbike, devices like these are a big relief.

Sound familiar? Remember SetechViet

Now, if you’ve been reading me, you know that I wrote about a startup in Vietnam in early December last year called SetechViet. This company has been manufacturing a device called the S-Bike, which basically does the same thing as the SmartBike. There are just a few differences:

• SetechViet engineers will themselves install the S-Bike device into your motorbike. SmartBike, on the other hand, ships with a manual that enables any motorbike engineer to install it.
• The S-Bike has its own alarm system.
• The S-Bike already went through one iteration in the market, selling 1,000 units.
• SetechViet has an angel investor (amount undisclosed).
• SetechViet started with the motorbike solution first, whereas Digi-Gps comes from a history of device making with cars.
• The Digi-Gps founder speaks English, the SetechViet founder speaks French.
• Digi-Gps just won DEMO ASEAN 2013, SetechViet won the S-Idea competition in 2009.

But at the end of the day, their products essentially do the same thing: they prevent motorbike theft.

The Digi-Gps team.

The roots of Digi-Gps

The incoming competition and device future