An all-electric scooter that talks to the cloud: Stakes and Opportunities

The Consumer Electronic Show is going forward at Las Vegas, Kirsten Billhardt from Dell, jumps on the occasion for talk about deepening relationship between high tech and the auto industry.
According to him, it is evident ,because this month (8-12 January, 2013), the key players have attend each other’s industry shows: Ford, Audi, Toyota, Chevrolet and Hyundai are at International CES (consumer electronics show).  He has mentioned that
this kind of presence at a show like CES demonstrates the value of high tech in the auto industry, which is enabling new breakthroughs such as connected vehicles, increased safety, better infotainment and even autonomous driving. 

To not go far, he takes as an example to share how electric scooter manufacturer, Current Motor, has leveraged Dell technology to develop an all-electric scooter that talks to the cloud. 

 In each Current Motor ‘’Super’’ Scooter, we noted that, there is an onboard computer collecting data from sensors throughout the bike.  This data, from the temperature of battery cells, to the amperage, to the average trip speed and length, is routinely sent to the cloud through the scooter’s onboard 3G connection.  In fact the goal here is to provide:

• Better customer service: Current Motor is able to see exactly how the scooter has been driven, and use this information to send alerts to the bike and quickly and accurately resolve issues.
• On demand vehicle info: Customers use the Current Motor smart phone app to remotely communicate with their bike.
• Geo-social applications: These scooters are a wifi-on-wheels, which gives drivers the ability to access online maps and social networks, as long as the scooter is safely parked.

According to Kirsten Billhardt from Dell, ‘’Current Motor is a leading example of what is possible, today, by linking products to the cloud.’’  

His prediction for 2103 is that the auto industry will fairly dramatically increase its use of IT to not only improve their products, but to improve the efficiency of their organizations.  ‘’Streamlined, connected IT can help employees have access to the right data at the right time to make the right decisions much lower in the organization than typically seen with many automakers.’’