Bluetooth and 4G LTE - What’s the deal?
Continuing from previous technical articles on Connectivity in an intelligent scooter and Building a data pipeline inside and outside a vehicle, here’s the next article on Bluetooth and 4G LTE, and what they enable for the Ather 450 Plus and the Ather 450X.
The Ather 450X has all the smart features that the Ather 450 has and more. With the addition of Bluetooth and the connectivity upgrade to 4G LTE, there are a ton of possibilities to make the Ather 450 Plus and Ather 450X more intelligent.
What does Bluetooth enable?
The Ather 450X dashboard has integrated Bluetooth for enabling smart features. With Bluetooth, your Ather 450X dashboard can connect to your smartphone and the Ather App, to enable music and call controls, and support for smart accessories such as a Tyre Pressure Monitoring System (TPMS) and Smart Helmet.
Music and call controls
Installing the Ather app, and connecting your phone to the Ather 450X dashboard will allow you to control call and music functions on the phone through the dashboard.
If you’re getting a call, you can see who’s calling, and accept/reject the call with the toggle switches. You can also see music playing on your phone, and control playback on the dashboard. As always, we recommend riding safely and remaining alert at all times.
Support for smart accessories
With the addition of Bluetooth, there’s support for smart accessories which can work with the 450X. To start off, we’ll be offering a Tyre Pressure Monitoring System (TPMS) and a Smart helmet as optional accessories.
One feedback that came from some of the early users of the Ather 450 was that they tend to forget to check their tyre pressure regularly. With no visits to fuel up, it’s difficult to remember to check your tyre pressure regularly. We’ll offer a TPMS kit as an optional accessory, which will integrate sensors on the tyres. The sensors will relay information to the Ather 450X dashboard, and provide real-time information about the air pressure in your tyres.
A smart helmet can also be used, which will enhance your riding experience. The smart helmet will have the capability to connect to your smartphone and enable you to take calls and listen to music handsfree. No more messing around with wires and your phone while riding.
What about LTE?
We had talked about why we chose to use 3G for the Ather 450 here. With 3G networks on the verge of being phased out in a few years, and with the Ather 450X going pan-India, it became important to upgrade to 4G LTE for connectivity on the Ather 450 Plus and Ather 450X.
Theft and Tow detection
An intelligent scooter also needs to be alert about privy eyes and miscreants trying to mess with it. With a ton of sensors onboard, it’s easy to figure out when the scooter is being moved after you parked it. If someone tries to move or tow your scooter, the connectivity and GPS are turned on, with instant alerts on your phone.
With onboard GPS and 4G LTE, you can always view the location of your scooter and track the location if it’s being moved.
More seamless onboard navigation
4G LTE offers much faster data transfer speeds, and it allows a much better experience of navigating through the city. 4G LTE has been deployed nearly everywhere, so you shouldn’t have to worry about network connectivity, in most urban areas.
Quicker data sync between the scooter and the app
With faster data transfer speeds, the data sync between the scooter and your app will be quicker and much smoother. You can instantly find out the location of your Ather 450 Plus or Ather 450X and monitor the charge state in real-time.
Faster OTA updates
With 4G LTE, OTA updates are quicker, more seamless, and your scooter will gain new features and improvements throughout your ownership.
Got any questions on the smart features in the Ather 450 Plus and the Ather 450X? Drop them below and we’ll answer them.