Ola Electric Testing Small Screens for Driver Assistance on S1 Pro Scooter, CEO Teases

Ola could be adding an advanced driver assistance system (ADAS) to its S1 Pro scooter in the premium category. Bhavish Aggarwal, the CEO of Ola, shared a teaser video that showed a small screen, mounted on a metal stand, fixed next to the speedometer of what looks like the orange variant of its electric S1 Pro scooter. Aggarwal has not revealed any more details about the development for now, promising to share more in a tech demo soon.

Ola is looking to make the journeys of two-wheeler riders in India, less prone to accidents. As of December 22, the company had sold over 25,000 electric scooters, grabbing 30 percent share of India's electric vehicle (EV) market.

The ADAS hardware and software on Ola's electric scooters will allow riders to access maps and other kinds of road-related information on the small display attached at eye-level above the headlight of the scooter.

It will allow the riders to use features on the EV like adaptive cruise control, collision avoidance, and pedestrian detection among others. Via lines and box markings, the screen will also trace the trajectory of the EV on the road.

Aggarwal's teaser video shows that this screen will not be any bigger than our mobile screens. It also appears that Ola is testing this upgrade in the real-world scenario to understand its feasibility.

Every year in India, thousands of people lose their lives in road accidents. In 2021, 62,240 people reportedly died in two-wheeler accidents in the country.

Despite the alarming statistics, it took vehicle manufacturers a long time to bring the ADAS features to cars. It's only now that the driver assistance functionality is being introduced to two wheelers in the country.

The Ola S1 Pro was launched as the company's first electric scooter last year. Its sales however, suffered a setback after one S1 Pro caught fire in Pune exactly one year ago in March. No casualty was reported.

The company had, at the time, issued an apology and had promised to analyse and fix what went wrong.

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