I rode Volkswagen's ‘world’s safest e-bike’ at IFA 2026 — I love the glasses and radar, but the helmet looks a bit silly, doesn’t it?

I’ve dipped my toes into the world of e-bikes at various tech shows, but at IFA I got to experience one of the safest models so far.

I rode around on the Volkswagen and n+ collaboration e-bike, which borrows from car tech to spot dangers and alert road users to your presence.

According to VW, this is the “world’s safest e-bike” — and it might be right.

To call it an e-bike is to oversimplify the setup, because the Volkswagen comes in three parts: the bike, the glasses, and the helmet.

Beyond typical assistive riding and plenty of lights, the two big things this bike boasts are an integrated rear-view camera and a dashboard display.

The camera provides a view of what’s going on behind you without you needing to turn your head, with it also warns you when another vehicle is approaching in your blind spot via a radar sensor.

This, and stats such as your speed, can be viewed on the display and on the glasses’ monocular display. (Image credit: Future / Hamish Hector) The see-through screen appears in front of your right eye and will display your speed, a basic map and directions if you’ve planned a route, and warnings about blind spots.

The glasses themselves are very lightweight at 47g, and offer an excellent eight-hour battery life.

Admittedly, the helmet is a bit big and goofy-looking, but it both protects your head in a fall and features built-in lights — white on the front; red in the back to make you more visible to drivers and signal if you’re braking or turning, just like a car — as well as other electronics.

It comes with an IP67 dust- and waterproof rating, and built-in crash detection.

Battery life is decent at three hours (commuters should be fine, although avid riders may have welcomed more), although I wish it matched the eight hours of the glasses. (Image credit: Future / Hamish Hector) My test ride Safety is very much the focus of this e-bike, and I can see it becoming the ultimate vehicle for commuting across cities such as London, where cars can come at you from all angles.

Making myself more visible, and getting a heads up when a driver is close behind me, are major wins.

I got a taste of this during my demo.

While this year's IFA test track was larger than last year’s, it’s still a bit compact for putting an e-bike through its paces.