So I was looking over this post about how connected the LiveWire will be, and how it'll use IBM's cloud tech, which is fine... But I was a little confused by the line about the security element:

"An alert will be sent to the owner’s phone if the motorcycle has been bumped, tampered or moved. GPS-enabled stolen-vehicle assistance provides peace of mind that the motorcycle’s location can be tracked. (Requires law enforcement assistance. Available in select markets)."

So if my bike is stolen, I can't see where it's going? And I have to go to the police? While I obviously think recovering a stolen bike could be sketchy, it seems like it would be helpful to see where it went. And depending on where you live, a stolen bike might not be too high on the local precinct's priority list... I just thought that was kind of weird. What do you think?

 

I thought that comment about requiring law enforcement assistance was a little weird too.

You can buy GPS trackers that use cellular or satellite comms to report the items location. They do the same thing but you don't need to contact the police. If the item starts moving you get an e-mail or text message.

Not sure why Harley stated you need LE assistance. And if the bike is so connected to the cloud, why can't I just query it's location?

 

Yeah, I think this seems weird too. I'm sure we'll hear more about it as things get rolled out.

 

Ever hear of Lojack for car tracking? I believe that needs (or did at one time) police activation.

 

Very familiar with LoJack, at least the original version. It was activated by cellular, but, used regular radio frequency and transmitted a beacon. There were special patrol cars with direction finding antennas on them to locate the stolen vehicle.

There are now plenty of GPS tracking devices that use either satellite or cell phone to send their location. You can track your property anywhere without the police being notified.

https://www.lifewire.com/best-gps-trackers-1683621

 

Okay, my point is that Lojack was a tracking system for the police to locate your property not you, the owner. This was in response to the sentiment displayed 'why would anyone want to do that?' As you are indicating in your response you appear to want to know where your property is and not the police. There are plenty of devices for that sort of tracking and even 2-way communications. Those carry subscriptions too.

I guess I am just not 'badass' enough to want to locate my stolen motorcycle on an app and then go after the chopshop boys myself. My motorcycle is a 'thing' that can be replaced as opposed to my life and the welfare of my family that may suffer the retribution of a group of organized criminals.

 

 

I doubt you would win anything in suit like that in most states because you initiated the problem. Now I could see this suit a big money loser for HD. Your bike gets stolen, you call a bunch of your biker buddies, go to the location of the bike on the app, find some tweaker in a trailer park with your bike in the shed, you and your buddies decide to teach tweaker a lesson with a good stomping, tweaker is paralyzed from the waist down, tweaker sues HD for his condition. Jury awards tweaker $50M.

 

If someone steals such a recent, specialty "early adopter" vehicle you're FAR better off if they total it or it's not recovered in time and insurance buys you a replacement. Why would you want it back after theft? After being reimbursed you could offer to buy back a recovered vehicle for peanuts if you are a mechanic but otherwise there's no point. It would still have a salvage title. There's no aftermarket for affordable spare parts and even fixed the model will go rapidly obsolete like all consumer electronic devices. Remember how quickly your first PC became a doorstop?

"Features" like cloud connection are just more data mining but every customer for anything today is fine with that. Motorcyclists who understand IT buzzwords and buy Harleys exist but aren't common.

 

This is my thought as well.

Actually I think the person may have a chance to win. After all people have won for scenting lit candles with aftershave, trimming hedges with lawn mowers, and because they were not told their morning hot coffee was really hot.

Of course the scenario of a group of people beating up the thief is just as likely