How to Future-Proof the Modern Motorcycle

Transportation isn't a simple gas up and go, point A to point B equation anymore. Now cars drive themselves, travel for hundreds of miles without gas, and soon won't have a steering wheel at all. And though the future of transportation is currently obsessed with humanity's conveyance of choice—the automobile—motorcycles and scooters will play a big role as cities grow denser and green living transitions from a fringe lifestyle to federal law.

To catch a glimpse of this future, Bosch flew me out to the green hills of the German countryside to visit its Mobility Solutions Proving Grounds in Boxberg. Although you've never ridden a Bosch-branded motorcycle, it's more than likely that you've seen a bike being secretly powered by Bosch. The company even provided parts for some of the very first bikes, including an low-voltage magneto ignition device, created in 1897, for the electric-powered De Dion-Bouton tricycle, the most successful European motor vehicle in the late 19th century.

Read more from Popular Mechanics.