Concept vehicles are supposed to capture the imagination, rather than be really useful. I get that, but every once in a while, a concept vehicle comes along that sets records for stupidity. Now, that distinction goes to Yamaha with their new concept vehicle, the BOBBY. It’s an electric bike, with a rear wheel that collapses in for easy stowage, the same goes for the foot rests; all good so far. It is with the starting system that things start to veer a little off course.

You start it with your FeliCa cell phone. We live in the day of cheap fingerprint scanners. Why not incorporate a fingerprint scanner. A lot of FeliCa enabled phones here in Japan have started to use them. Starting your bike with your cell phone is just plain dumb, but not compared to the next little feature. The BOBBY has Internet connectivity. Why do you need to connect your motorcycle to the Internet?  Do they mean that you can connect to your motorcycle or that your motorcycle can connect to the Internet?  Do they expect people to check their email whilst on the BOBBY?

The lack of information surrounding the BOBBY makes me suspect a hoax, but not even hoaxers would expect us to swallow this tripe. Congratulations Yamaha, you have really earned your Homer J. Simpson design award for certifiable incompetence.

Source: Ubergizmo