Meet the tech-packed e-bike for your city commute (pictures)

The Visiobike is a carbon-fibre e-bike that links to your smartphone to make your commute safer by using the phone as a screen for a rear-view camera, a security lock and to send a distress message with GPS coordinates to an emergency contact if it detects a crash.

Visiobike is on IndieGogo now, looking for €180,000 in funding before 7 July.

The frame is made entirely from carbon-fibre. It's so strong that it doesn't need a central column, which I think looks pretty cool.

And really, who doesn't love carbon-fibre?

The front forks are soft, giving a very smooth ride. You won't feel your arms jarred by small stones when cruising to work.

The electric motor assists your pedalling up to a speed of 45km/h. The battery is housed inside the frame, rather than simply bolted on the outside somewhere.

It's very smooth to ride and the motor assistance means you don't need to exert much effort to get going. It makes setting off from traffic lights that bit safer.

It relies on connecting to your smartphone, which will be stuck to your handlebars. To even turn the motor on, you'll need to input your PIN.

From the app, you can select how much assistance you want from the motor. I, being lazy, set it to maximum assistance.

The app uses large icons that are easy to poke when you're riding along.

It has a speedometer too. Try not to get into a competition with fellow cyclists.

On the back of the saddle is a camera.

It gives a rear-view of approaching traffic, meaning you can focus on the road ahead, rather than having to turn your head around when changing lanes.

It has very responsive disc brakes on the front and back wheels.

The gears are contained in the back wheel.

The gears are automatic and use a system called NuVinci that uses spheres instead of cogs to provide a smooth transition of gears, rather than the clanking change you may be used to on regular bikes.

Your speed and GPS are all fed back to your phone so you can map exactly where you've been and how fast you were.