SmaChari does not refer to the bicycle itself. Rather, the name describes a service and app that connect bicycles. The concept resembles an operating system or CPU for computers or smartphones—technology that can be integrated into bicycles from many different manufacturers.

The project officially began in April 2019 and is currently being developed by a four-member team. The initiative began when I applied to Honda’s internal new business creation program IGNITION at the end of 2018.

I first came up with the concept when I was a student at a technical college. My commute was about 10 kilometers each way. I enjoyed going to school, but the commute itself was exhausting. I started thinking about creating something that could make bicycle commuting easier.

At the time, I wondered whether attaching a motor used in robotics competitions to a commuter bicycle might allow bicycles to be electrified through a retrofit approach.

The turning point came in 2018, my fourth year at Honda. Until then, I had been involved in developing the N Series, including the N-BOX. When I saw the call for proposals for IGNITION, I decided to apply because I wanted to turn an idea I had been carrying for years into something real.

Cars and motorcycles are familiar forms of mobility, but they are ultimately products for people who hold a license. When I was a student, even if I wanted one, they were difficult to obtain. I saw it as a chance to create a form of mobility that felt closer to everyday life as a Honda product, so I decided to take on the challenge.

The era may be different, but the motivation is the same—helping people around us and making mobility easier. In the end, SmaChari turned out to be very similar in spirit. Batabata also became the origin of modern mopeds, and reflects Honda’s philosophy of enriching everyday life with products that are accessible to people.

Under the IGNITION program, teams can recruit up to four members. I reached out to Onuki, whom I had met through a project where young employees from Suzuka and Kumamoto worked together to create new appeal. Two more members were then recruited through an internal call, and Sunamoto and Hattori joined the team.

Sunamoto works on motorcycle development and shares Nomura’s experience of challenging bicycle commutes during school. Hattori, meanwhile, is an avid cyclist who rides more than 10,000 kilometers per year. Nomura and Onuki focus on development frameworks and core system design, I lead the connected technology, and Hattori focuses on the electric assist system.

When I was a student, I also wanted an electric-assist bicycle. But most models were utility-style bicycles. I wished there were more stylish options. Electric-assist bicycles tend to have limited designs, so allowing riders to electrify their favorite bicycle could create stronger demand.

Customers were looking for more than just electrification. They wanted protection against theft, reassurance for long commutes, and solutions for issues such as forgetting to charge the battery.

Originally, development focused on adding electric assist to bicycles through a retrofit approach. However, addressing the challenges of bicycle mobility required more than electrification alone.

While cars continue to evolve with advanced safety technologies such as driver-assist systems, the safety features of bicycles have remained largely unchanged for decades. That raised an important question: could technology help improve bicycle safety?

Connectivity emerged as the answer. From that point, the concept of SmaChari took shape—combining electric assist with connectivity.

Location information can be shared through the app, allowing parents to check where their children are. When riding with friends, the app also helps share meeting points and confirm each other’s locations. Most importantly, the smartphone functions as the key. The electric assist unit will not activate unless a registered smartphone is connected, which also helps prevent theft. Connectivity also makes it possible to add new services through future updates, creating additional value over time. That is another advantage of making bicycles connected.

Whether to launch the project as an independent startup or develop it as an in-house business was a decision that divided opinions within the team. A venture outside the company might have allowed faster commercialization.

However, research showed that, from the customer’s perspective, bicycles require a high level of trust—particularly in areas such as quality and compliance with regulations. Considering those expectations for safety and reliability, we concluded that launching the service within Honda, leveraging the company’s track record and reputation for safety, would provide the best path for the service to reach and benefit more customers.

Another major decision followed. The question became: what can Honda uniquely contribute? The answer lay in providing technologies that enable electrification and connectivity, allowing broader value to reach society.

Many manufacturers already specialize in power units for electric-assist bicycles. At the same time, bicycles themselves have been becoming more expensive, and developing the power unit in-house would have further increased costs.

We decided to source the electric assist unit from manufacturers with that expertise. The goal became creating a service positioned between existing electric-assist bicycles and bicycles that customers would like to electrify.

From there, the project moved fully into the commercialization phase, and partnerships were established with companies that manufacture and sell bicycles. That process has led to where the project stands today.

In fact, once commercialization became clear, all team members transferred from Honda R&D to Honda Motor. As of April 1 this year, the team moved into the business division. The decision reflected a shared belief: rather than simply developing the technology and handing it off to another division, we wanted to deliver the product to customers ourselves.

Honda has set a goal of zero traffic collision fatalities by 2050. The team also understands that customers place the highest value on safety and peace of mind, and hopes to contribute to the advancement of Cooperative safety.

Until now, safety systems have mainly relied on cars detecting bicycles and pedestrians through cameras. In the future, combining information from bicycles and pedestrians themselves could further improve safety.

To build that foundation, our immediate goal is to expand the SmaChari system across Japan and accumulate riding data from bicycles. Combining that information with vehicle data could significantly accelerate the development of a stronger safety infrastructure. The initiative represents a meaningful step toward the next stage of Cooperative safety.