Riding a bicycle is a great way to get around – it’s cheap, it’s healthy and it’s better for the environment than driving.

It also helps reduce congestion on the roads, which is why plenty of smart cities are trying to encourage more citizens to commute by bike. In many places this has led to the installation of neat bike-friendly infrastructure, like New York City’s Citi Bike bicycle sharing system, Copenhagen’s cycle tracks and Norway’s (no longer operational) bike lift.

But with more bike commuters comes more bikes, which means a city where lots of citizens cycle will eventually have to figure out where to keep them all – and how to keep them safe from bike theft.

Japan has an answer: automated underground bicycle parking systems. Folks just slide their bike into a machine that whisks it into a storage area located underground. To retrieve it, they can tap their ID card to the machine. A tag attached to the bike that’s programmed with the corresponding information ensures it’ll be returned to its rightful owner.

They look like some crazy future technology that shouldn’t exist yet. Hopefully they’ll catch on here in North America.

Watch Danny Choo demonstrate this cool technology: