The Flying Flea exhibits how software-defined experiences may be delivered on a two-wheeler. By Megan Lampinen
The software-defined automobile (SDV) guarantees an ever-evolving person expertise. From security and effectivity to infotainment and luxury, the potential of fixed upgrades and updates opens the door to a brand new mobility paradigm. Thus far, each headline house and market purposes have focussed on passenger vehicles and industrial trucking, however SDV is actually not restricted to those segments.
“SDV as an idea applies to any automobile,” says Sudhakar Bhagavatula, Chief Info Officer at bike producer Royal Enfield. “Passenger autos characterize a closed atmosphere—very totally different to what’s discovered on a two-wheeler. Rendering software-defined experiences on two wheels is extra advanced however gives an actual alternative to construct a particular type of connection between bike, rider, and terrain.”
And that’s precisely what the corporate has executed with the brand new Flying Flea.
A motorcycle that grows with you
With greater than 125 years behind it, Royal Enfield is the world’s oldest international bike model in steady manufacturing. Its newest mannequin attracts on that wealthy heritage. The unique Flying Flea (formally the Royal Enfield WD/RE) was created in 1941 for the British Struggle Workplace. Light-weight and agile, it was designed to be dropped into excessive danger areas by parachute to assist troopers carry messages.
The identify is now being revived as Royal Enfield’s new electrical automobile (EV) model, beginning with the FF-C6 electrical bike. Pivotally, that is additionally the vary that introduces its imaginative and prescient for linked motorcycling, providing smartphone digital keys, customisable experience modes and over-the-air (OTA) updates. “This can be a bike that grows with you,” says Mario Alvisi, Chief Progress Officer, EVs, at Royal Enfield.
A lot of the SDV functionality is underpinned by Qualcomm experience. On the coronary heart of the FF-C6 experience expertise is Royal Enfield’s in-house-developed working system, powered by the Qualcomm Snapdragon QWM2290 system-on-chip. This permits the bike to handle all features of the automobile and experience expertise by means of an interactive instrument cluster, securing multi-modal interplay with 4G, Bluetooth, and Wi-Fi connectivity. “This can be a absolutely linked, absolutely updatable bike, providing a steady evolution of options OTA,” says Nimish Shrivastava, Senior Director, Product Administration at Qualcomm.
Riders can work together by means of contact display, voice management, joystick, smartphone, and smartwatch. Integration with the Snapdragon Automobile-to-Cloud platform—on this case serving as bike-to-cloud—permits customers to hook up with their bike, monitor its standing, and alter their preferences remotely. “To render all these experiences, we’ve adopted the software-defined strategy,” Bhagavatula states. “It’s the identical inspiration and methodology seen with the software-defined automotive.”
From 4 wheels to 2
The inspiration stands out as the similar, however the deployment atmosphere on a two-wheeler is extra advanced when it comes to security and safety than that of an enclosed automotive or truck cabin. In some instances, these challenges open up new alternatives for software-defined experiences. Situational consciousness is a working example. “You’ll be able to put cameras across the bike, they usually detect potential hazards exterior of the rider’s peripheral imaginative and prescient,” says Qualcomm’s Nakul Duggal, Group Normal Supervisor of Automotive, Industrial & Embedded IoT, and Cloud Computing.
Actual-time diagnostics, superior navigation, and personalised experience settings are simply the beginning. The Royal Enfield crew is especially enthusiastic in regards to the bike’s capability to supply driving teaching for improved effectivity primarily based on noticed driver behaviour and the particular terrain. Whereas not each driver will essentially welcome this suggestions, others could discover it invaluable. “Know-how has quite a bit to supply in the event you’re open to it,” Duggal tells Automotive World. “You’ll be able to all the time shut it off in the event you’re not.”
Royal Enfield is a giant believer in co-creation and took in appreciable suggestions from riders whereas creating the bike and its particular options. “We put plenty of effort into speaking with folks,” Alvisi explains. “The preliminary concept of constructing a software-defined EV got here from these conversations. Folks didn’t inform us, ‘I need an EV or an SDV,’ however they had been telling us they wished particular traits. We may establish clear traits.”
Above all, the purpose is to have software program options help an in depth rider-bike relationship that matches in with the person’s digital life-style. “The know-how enhances the sense of freedom you’ve gotten on a motorcycle, taking it to the following stage,” he provides. “It’s not an impediment to freedom however quite permits you to join with the bike in a brand new approach. The purpose is to make your life simpler with out the know-how turning into invasive.”
The important thing to offering these freedom-enhancing digital experiences is a microservices structure. With this strategy, every utility consists of quite a few smaller, loosely coupled and independently deployable providers. “How do you set the fitting providers on the system? What do you’re taking it to the cloud? How do you carry updates on the proper time? All these are extra advanced due to constraints throughout the bike, and microservices is the fitting approach to do this,” Shrivastava claims.
An appreciating asset
A automobile outlined by software program is one that may evolve over time, and that functionality will quickly change into the ticket to play in any phase. “The entire concept is to make the bike an appreciating asset,” says Qualcomm’s Manmeet Singh, Senior Director of Enterprise Growth.
By way of what that appears like on two-wheels, the longer term is huge open. Royal Enfield is presently contemplating providing customers the choice of downloading premium options, doubtlessly at an additional price however not essentially. Down the road there may even be new types of automobile possession made potential by digital advances. “There can be numerous developments right here,” says Alvisi.
As Bhagavatula provides: “What’s necessary, particularly within the EV world, is not only the launch of the bike, however that we will supply new experiences OTA over a time period afterwards, all executed by means of the platform.”
Regardless of the promised advantages, Royal Enfield is conscious that not each rider will instantly embrace the transfer in direction of an electrical, software-defined bike. In some ways the two-wheeler phase could be very conventional, however the firm is keen to attend for its shopper base to come back spherical in their very own time. “Over the course of human historical past, each time there’s a huge change, there are those who resist and others that instantly embrace it,” Alvisi factors out. “It’s the latter that change into the trendsetters, and progressively, if the change is smart for almost all of individuals, then adoption begins.”
The primary Flying Flea mannequin would be the classic-styled FF-C6, adopted by the scrambler-styled FF-S6. Each are scheduled to reach on the worldwide market by early 2026.
