Ather Energy, India’s leading electric scooter manufacturer, kicked off the year with a slew of industry firsts and features on its offerings at its marquee customer event, called the Ather Community Day. Ather has rolled out AtherStack 5.0, the biggest upgrade to its software engine which drives the vehicle. AtherStack 5.0 will be powering a brand new UI for the dashboard in addition to launching vector maps powered by Google. The company also expanded options for customers by introducing four new colours, a new comfortable seat, AutoHold TM to help riding on inclines, an unmatched five year extended battery warranty program, and the unveiling of Ather’s scooter accessories and merchandise.
Speaking on the rollout of the new AtherStack 5.0, Tarun Mehta – Co-Founder & CEO, Ather Energy, said, ” In 2018, when we launched AtherStack in Ather 450, it was the first ever software engine on any two-wheeler in India, probably even globally. It powered first-to-market experiences like the touchscreen dashboard, onboard navigation, and remote diagnostics, which barely existed even in luxury cars at that time. With a fluid new UI and Google Vector Maps, AtherStack 5.0 takes our touchscreen and maps experience to a whole new level. It also enables us to leverage our hardware to unlock new experiences such as AutoHold TM . Importantly, it allows us to roll out these new experiences to most of our existing customers as well, based on their scooter generation. AtherStack will continue to form a core of our product strategy, allowing us to constantly keep enhancing our product experience on the existing hardware platform.”
AtherStack is the software engine that powers every single user experience on the Ather 450X, built on various interconnected layers of software, firmware, system intelligence, and algorithms. AtherStack will allow the customers to ride at top speed while extracting maximum torque from the scooter for far longer without derating, compared to every other EV, get incredibly accurate range predictions down to the last % point, enable intelligent auto cut-off when plugged into a charger, thereby prolonging your battery life significantly.
THE UI/UX The all-new AtherStack 5.0 gives the dashboard a fresh look and an even more intuitive UI. The new UI will enhance the overall experience of operating the dashboard. The home screen has been redesigned to allow users to set up their ride with options such as Bluetooth connections and navigation before starting the motor. New ride animation now shows both power usage and consumption in different modes, making them more intuitive and at the same time, rides more efficient. Quick controls have been added, allowing users to easily adjust settings such as brightness or turn off incoming call notifications with a single click. A new quick view section is now accessible through just a swipe, providing a centralised location for dashboard notifications and important information such as tyre pressure.
The new UI is an engineered experience achieved through a user-centred design trial where Ather analysed how users interact with the screen by monitoring every eye movement during the ride. The intent was to reduce distractions & improve accuracy multifold. With the new UI, Ather claims to have reduced the ride screen time by 50-60% and improved ride accuracy by 2X.