iaggio Group , parent company of Vespa , has announced its first electricpowered Vespa , the Elettrica . The new machine will be produced at the Pontedera plant , Pisa , where the first Vespa rolled off the production line in 1946 . “ Vespa Elettrica is launched as the contemporary icon of Italian technology around the world . By adopting electric drive , Vespa once again strongly makes a name for itself as a symbol of style combined with the best of innovation . Vespa Elettrica is not just a new electric scooter . It is a work of art of our day , with a technological core that is born carrying with it all the values of the world of Vespa , its image , its social and ecofriendly soul , now even more sensitive to the quality of life of our urban environment . “ Vespa Elettrica means riding easy , natural . It means advanced connectivity and silence , personalisation and accessibility , values that have always belonged to Vespa and that today have been totally achieved in Vespa Elettrica .” Interestingly Piaggio is talking about artificial intelligence and machine learning capabilities to come , “ Vespa Elettrica is but a first step for the Piaggio Group

in the direction of a new richness of interconnection between vehicles and human operators . Vespa Elettrica will be ready to be fitted out in the near future with solutions currently being developed for Gita , the robot currently on the drawing board at Piaggio Fast Forward in Boston ( which will be entering production at the beginning of 2019 ), such as artificial intelligence systems both adaptive and responsive to all human input . They will be aware of people and other vehicles operating in the vicinity , extend the operator ’ s ability to sense potential perils and opportunities , and provide real time mapping and traffic data that contributes to improving the design of transportation infrastructures in cities . Most of all , these new generation vehicles will thoroughly know their operators : they will recognise them without key fobs , anticipate their driving choices , interact with other devices and vehicles on the road and allow for degrees of personalisation that can barely be imagined today .” The new machine is to be released in time for the Milan EICMA Show in November , with sales expected to begin in the USA and Asia starting in early 2019 .

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