The Ather e-scooter uses an android tablet dashboard that offers navigation, information on power, battery drainage capacity, system temperature and much more.
The last week saw some major investments for the electric two-wheeler start-up Ather that came in from Flipkart founders Sachin and Binny Bansal as well as Raju Venkatraman of Medical Healthcare. Aiming to develop high performance electric two-wheelers, Ather has received support of the Incubation Cell at IIT Madras with their first prototype being an indigenously developed electric scooter including the chassis, motor and battery pack. The start up has been working on a new scheme of things for the scooter which include an Android based tablet dashboard, while work has also commenced on vehicle connectivity through wireless communications, two relatively unknown terms in the Indian automotive world.
Essentially a rookie competing against giants like Hero Electric and TVS, Ather aims to develop products beating the competition on design, functionality and also bringing smart solutions to Indian scooters. The company prepared its first prototype four months into research and was imperative in getting the basics right including torque, range and temperature. Over the period, the company has developed its fifth iteration that resembles just like any other 100cc scooter presently on sale.
The Ather e-scooter will most likely be the first in the country to get an Android based tablet dashboard that will help the rider with navigation, battery life, distance to empty among many other features. It will also be able to track the scooter in case of a theft. The company is working to make the Android tablet dashboard resistant to external issues like shock, heat as well as periodic update and has spent the past eight months on the same.
In addition to the Android dashboard, Ather also talks about employing a new scheme of connectivity options with the e-scooter. The concept here is of connecting devices through wireless communications in order to draw operational data and control them. The team also talks about using sensors to monitor the bike parameters and process data control on cloud, while connectivity will be provided by its own SIM card for data communications. The company is currently working to validate these concepts with the first prototype set to be ready in three months time.
Source – Economic Times