Ola Solo - Self-Balancing Electric Scooter Unveiled

What was presumed to be an April Fool’s joke, can now very well become a reality. It all started when Ola uploaded a full-length video showcasing its flagship Ola S1 Pro self-balancing itself and riding autonomously. The video also featured interviews with the likes of its autonomous vehicle designer, Riya Khudchal, and senior design engineer Akash Takkar - all of which gave us the perception that Ola is seriously developing the same. 

But then came terminologies like LMAO9000 (its in-house developed chip), Quickie.AI, JU-GUARD - all of which convinced us that this is nothing but an April Fools joke. But this realisation was short-lived, for Ola’s CEO Bhavish Aggarwal took to Twitter and announced that they are indeed working on self-balancing and autonomous technology. 

“We announced Ola Solo yesterday. It went viral and many people debated whether it’s real or an April fools joke! While the video was meant to provide a laugh to people, the technology behind it is something we’ve been working on and have prototyped,” said Bhavish.

Ola Solo: Key Highlights

The Ola Solo showcases several smart features. For starters, there are various modes, some of which sound funny as well. Whereas, features like Multilingual Voice and Human mode has been designed to allow interaction between the rider and the scooter. 

Then there’s a Vishram mode which triggers the Ola scooter to search for the nearest hypercharger when it runs low on juice. Summon mode can be used via the Ola app to summon an autonomous S1 Pro just like its cab brethren. Smart features like Facial Recognition and Vibrating Seat alerts further enhance the security of the scooters. 

Will The Ola Solo Launch?

While Bhavish Aggarwal did mention that the Ola Solo is a glimpse into the company’s future and that its team is working on these technologies for its future product, he didn’t commit to a timeline for the same and confirm the exact model the technology will debut with. So, from a prototype point of view (which it is), the Ola Solo is an exciting product, but it is still far away from hitting the road and confusing people as to who exactly is riding it.