Not your regular scooter (Part 1)
Good looking, intelligent and an incredible performer. Well, everyone has been appreciating these 3 things in the Ather 450, and it is truly overwhelming. But aren’t these fundamental to a good vehicle; hygiene features, so to speak. But, the Ather 450 is the outcome of fussy engineers meeting nit-picky designers. What it means is, every little detail has been thought through at least thrice, before finding its way into this white, edgy, high-spirited body.
If you know what those 60 years old finicky suit makers are like, we are talking about plenty of them here. Ones who are obsessed about those small little touches like clean stitches, perfectly hemmed trousers that hit the shoe at just the right length, and the right number of buttons, that too carefully selected ones. They would work on everything you are about, and things that you might not even notice at the first go. But, over the course of time, you will realise, when the pockets lie neat and flat, and the lapels don’t fold back, even if they aren’t stiff; unlike the others that you have owned.
Now, imagine the same obsession three folds. Extremely picky in choosing components, rejecting the parts that are most easily sourceable, and to add to it proposing to redesign those things that go completely unnoticed. These traits sounded annoying initially maybe, but these uncomfortable decisions about these little big things have led to building a product that we love today!
Paying attention to the things that are given step-motherly treatment
When have we ever heard someone cribbing about those strictly functional grab handles. Or footrest, or switches, and for that matter even the side stand.
These are the things that are hardly paid attention to, and generally, don’t find a place in the design meetings of any OEMs. But, here the team made sure that all those things that go unnoticed are put on the table. Design mantra — no part should get a step-motherly treatment, it’s alright if a customer doesn’t notice them, the experience is what matters.
Result — taking a much longer route. Building things from scratch, completely rethinking the design, replanning the sourcing of the components and tons of research to build a scooter that’s not just ‘ON BRIEF’, but much more.
Now it feels that it’s good to have annoying (so demanding) people around ;)
Why hold the seat?
Ever realised, while you stuff the under-seat storage, your one hand is always struggling to keep the seat upright? Not any more. With the upright-seat mechanism, you can pull it up and leave it there, while you comfortably arrange or get things out of the storage. Once you are done, you simply need to drop the seat, and it closes with that satisfying clunk, without you having to adjust the seat back into its position and shut it.
Big, bright under-seat storage
It’s got such a big heart that it can fit a full-face helmet. Now you don’t have to struggle to find a space to hang it or park it, when not riding.
And to make this happen, an aluminium cast frame was chosen over those easily available off-the-shelf steel ones, so that it could be moulded as per the need. It also has these cubby holes to keep essential stuff like a rain cover, cleaning cloth, vehicle tools, etc. And here’s something you will love -it’s got an LED strip that’s placed inside the boot. It will happily guide you through, to help you search your things in the storage in the dark parking spots. It is the best under-seat storage ever, period.
Finally, the grab handle gets due attention
The ride should be edgy, and not the grab handle. Long city rides are not fun for a pillion if grab handles are harsh on hands. The pillion is hesitant to hold that uncomfortable bent metal strip that’ supposedly meant for support. It needed some attention. Soft, rounded corners and edges have been designed to make the palms feel rested, be it a long or a short stop-and-go ride. It can no more be classified as an afterthought.
So, go ‘wheeeing’ around the city, while the one sitting behind you gets a nice, comfortable grip.
Mirrors, so adjusting
There’s another thing that can be so vexing. Adjusting the mirror. First, unscrew the mirror stalk, adjust it and then lock it back. Why so much trouble, when it can be this easy?
The ratchet mechanism lets you move and adjust the stalk instantly, effortlessly. A friend or someone from the family may want to take your scooter out. So, now it’s super easy to tune the mirrors.
Also, in case of a front crash or if the vehicle experiences a fall the mirror housing the stem folds in so that it does not damage the mirrors. What if the vehicle falls sideways? That’s been thought through too. The handlebar tube that’s connected to the Vehicle Control Unit (VCU) acts as a mechanical fuse and helps absorb the impact, to safeguard the VCU casing. After all, the handlebar tube is much cheaper, so simpler to replace than the VCU.
A century-old foot-peg design challenged
The conventional flip-flappy footrests are readily available and would have been so much easier to install for us.
But, here comes the happy realization — there’s a constant struggle between the rider and the pillion, of opening and shutting the footrest. The pillion needs it; but ouch, it hurts the calf of the rider. So what do we do? How do we sort this thing out forever? It’s been integrated so that it seamlessly fits the design. Goodbye flappy fights!
Seamless, flush side-stand
We could have used those conventional side-stands. It would have been one hassle less for the sourcing team. And to be honest, this has been one of the topics of never-ending design debate. Because our creative folks were totally against something that sticks out like a sore thumb.
So, those regular side stands stood no chance. Now it sits flush into the side panel; nothing protruding out, no ugliness. Yes, you could call it our obsession with clean design.
Isn’t it pretty neat? It is right?
The more-than-what-meets-the-eye dashboard
When you build something new, one has to be extra cautious. So much has gone into the touchscreen dash to make it simple-to-use and utterly non-distractive.
No riding and swiping
If something distracts you or is not relevant to your ride, you will not see it on the screen. The thumb rule — no fiddling with the screen while riding. If you would like to switch modes or change navigation, you will need to pull over. Ahem, riding and swiping doesn’t go hand in hand.
No looking down
The easiest thing with a digital display is to show the speed in numbers. But this creates the problem of glance-ability. So how do we make it easier for the riders to know their speed at one glance, without spending the time to read the numbers?
Our designers found a perfect answer to that. You don’t have to look at the number to know the speed. This speedometer is designed in a way that the speed registers instantly through the peripheral vision.
The gradient of green to amber filling the screen shows the transition from normal to aggressive riding. Yes, a pretty sly way of letting you know that you need to calm down a little maybe :P
Minimizing arm movement
Anything and everything necessary should be within reach and close to the handlebar. Which means minimum arm movement while you are riding. E.g., Navigation icon sits on the top-right corner to give you quick access when needed.
Limiting the touch response
A touchscreen on a scooter is a new concept, and it will take it might take some time for you to get used to it. A touchscreen on a two-wheeler sounds pretty cool. But obviously, it comes with its own baggage.
A good high-quality touchscreen means it’s highly responsive to even the slightest touch. You must have noticed this with your phone. And, accidental touches on the screen are something unavoidable. These situations had to be kept in mind. So, the ride related functions on Ather vehicles’ touchscreen have been designed to create zero unwanted response. For E.g. you got to slide the parking assist button to use it, so that a chance tapping doesn’t lead to activating the reverse.
Save your documents on the dash
If pulled aside for documents check, you now don’t have to take the pain of opening the boot space, searching for the docs.
You don’t even have to reach out for your phone and search for the digital copies. You can flash them with a touch of a button on the dashboard. Simply upload using the app and store it on the scooter itself. Just right for the cities going digital.
Does your scooter know your destination?
You can set the location directly on the dashboard. But, why should you even wait till the time you get to your vehicle when you can push it to the vehicle while leaving your office desk or home.
The idea was to cut down on every wait time possible.
Feed the destination into the app and it will be delivered to the scooter. By the time you get to the parking lot, it’s all set to take you to your desired location. You can save your favourite places too, a few more seconds saved — hands on the handlebar, eyes on the road.
As cool as it sounds, the touchscreen dashboard should have minimal usage, while you are riding. Any kind of distraction would be just bad. So, extra care has been taken to make sure that you don’t have to take your hands off the handlebar. Be it for accepting or rejecting routes, be it reverse, or other notifications. It just makes sense to have shortcuts, to minimize the efforts :)
Shortcuts:
A quick combination of brake-indicator + cancel-accelerator can be used for the reverse, and the start switch is overloaded to flip between forward and backward.
Scroll switch:
When the map shows a better route, you can simply accept or reject using the scroll on the handlebar, without taking your eyes off the road; or taking your hands off the handlebar to reach the screen.
Only and only what’s relevant
A touchscreen dashboard and a vehicle that can spew out data faster than most ICE vehicles can spew out the exhaust, there are tonnes of data that is itching to spring out of the dashboard. However, experience design is all about leaving out things than showing off intelligence. Just like the dashboard, even the app home screen shows only the most relevant information. Nothing more, nothing less.
Everything you need is kept handy. Call support is at the forefront of your app when you are riding, and when the vehicle is parked, you get to see the range and your trip history.
We often get asked, “what’s taking you guys so long”. Well, the moment you think that the things are falling in place, all it takes is for one person to notice one minute-little thing, and that takes you back to the drawing board. And we are a hyper-demanding bunch of people. But, there was one specific observation that made enormous changes and shifts in the design of the vehicle. What’s that story? Keep reading to know — Part 2
