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Bengaluru-based Ather Energy has been teasing the S340 - billed as India's first smart electric scooter - for a while now and many have been waiting for a chance for a test ride. The startup's first smart electric scooter was unveiled at the Web Summit Surge conference in Bengaluru on Tuesday.
In a previous interaction with Gadgets 360, Ather Energy founder co-founder Tarun Mehta spoke about some of the design philosophies behind the scooter, as well as some of the challenges the company faced in cutting down on its cost and weight, and in extending the battery lifecycle.
While a test ride wasn't on the cards at the company's headquarters on Saturday morning, Mehta did share details of the dates for pre-orders, as well as a timeline for production and launch cities for the S340, detailing plans of its software features, such as personalised profiles, riding modes like sport and economy, and onboard navigation.
Under the hood: Ather Energy S340 Connectivity and dashboard features
Billed as a smart scooter, the S340 has GSM and Bluetooth connectivity. The startup has made a decision to move from Android to Linux for the dashboard operating system. While we weren't shown the dashboard, a spokesperson later confirmed that it would use Google Maps for navigation through the web browser.