The Flying Flea exhibits how software-defined experiences might 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 opportunity of fixed upgrades and updates opens the door to a brand new mobility paradigm. To this point, each headline house and market functions have focussed on passenger vehicles and business trucking, however SDV is definitely 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 signify a closed surroundings—very completely different to what’s discovered on a two-wheeler. Rendering software-defined experiences on two wheels is extra complicated however affords an actual alternative to construct a particular sort of connection between bike, rider, and terrain.”
And that’s precisely what the corporate has performed with the brand new Flying Flea.
A motorbike that grows with you
With greater than 125 years behind it, Royal Enfield is the world’s oldest world 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 Conflict Workplace. Light-weight and agile, it was designed to be dropped into excessive danger areas by parachute to assist troopers carry messages.
The title 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 related motorcycling, providing smartphone digital keys, customisable experience modes and over-the-air (OTA) updates. “It is 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 allows the bike to handle all elements of the automobile and experience expertise by way of an interactive instrument cluster, securing multi-modal interplay with 4G, Bluetooth, and Wi-Fi connectivity. “It is a totally related, totally updatable bike, providing a steady evolution of options OTA,” says Nimish Shrivastava, Senior Director, Product Administration at Qualcomm.
Riders can work together by way of contact display, voice management, joystick, smartphone, and smartwatch. Integration with the Snapdragon Automotive-to-Cloud platform—on this case serving as bike-to-cloud—permits customers to connect with their bike, monitor its standing, and alter their preferences remotely. “To render all these experiences, we’ve adopted the software-defined method,” 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 identical, however the deployment surroundings on a two-wheeler is extra complicated by way of security and safety than that of an enclosed automotive or truck cabin. In some circumstances, these challenges open up new alternatives for software-defined experiences. Situational consciousness is a living proof. “You’ll be able to put cameras across the bike, and so they detect potential hazards exterior of the rider’s peripheral imaginative and prescient,” says Qualcomm’s Nakul Duggal, Group Common 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 workforce is especially enthusiastic in regards to the bike’s capability to supply driving teaching for improved effectivity based mostly on noticed driver behaviour and the precise terrain. Whereas not each driver will essentially welcome this suggestions, others might discover it invaluable. “Expertise has lots to supply in the event you’re open to it,” Duggal tells Automotive World. “You’ll be able to at all times 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 growing the bike and its particular options. “We put loads of effort into speaking with individuals,” Alvisi explains. “The preliminary concept of constructing a software-defined EV got here from these conversations. Folks didn’t inform us, ‘I would like an EV or an SDV,’ however they had been telling us they needed particular traits. We might determine clear developments.”
Above all, the goal is to have software program options assist a detailed rider-bike relationship that matches in with the person’s digital life-style. “The expertise enhances the sense of freedom you may have on a motorcycle, taking it to the following stage,” he provides. “It’s not an impediment to freedom however reasonably lets you join with the bike in a brand new manner. The goal is to make your life simpler with out the expertise turning into invasive.”
The important thing to offering these freedom-enhancing digital experiences is a microservices structure. With this method, every utility consists of quite a few smaller, loosely coupled and independently deployable providers. “How do you set the correct providers on the machine? What do you’re taking it to the cloud? How do you deliver updates on the proper time? All these are extra complicated due to constraints throughout the bike, and microservices is the correct manner 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 grow to be the ticket to play in any section. “The entire concept is to make the bike an appreciating asset,” says Qualcomm’s Manmeet Singh, Senior Director of Enterprise Improvement.
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 might even be new types of automobile possession made doable by digital advances. “There shall be various developments right here,” says Alvisi.
As Bhagavatula provides: “What’s vital, particularly within the EV world, is not only the launch of the bike, however that we are able to provide new experiences OTA over a time period afterwards, all performed by way of the platform.”
Regardless of the promised advantages, Royal Enfield is conscious that not each rider will instantly embrace the transfer in the direction of an electrical, software-defined bike. In some ways the two-wheeler section may be very conventional, however the firm is prepared to attend for its shopper base to return spherical in their very own time. “Over the course of human historical past, every time there’s a large change, there are folks that resist and others that instantly embrace it,” Alvisi factors out. “It’s the latter that grow to be the trendsetters, and step by step, 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.
