While India is currently the largest market for two-wheelers, our country isn’t known to be at the forefront when it comes to rider safety. People riding without a helmet is not uncommon on our roads and in a bid to combat this, Ola Electric is working on a helmet detection system for its electric two-wheelers.
Ola’s helmet detection system uses a camera to detect whether the rider is wearing a helmet or not. It then sends this information to the Vehicle Control Unit (VCU is to an EV what an ECU is to an ICE vehicle) and then relayed to the Motor Control Unit which determines whether the vehicle will switch to Ride mode or not.
If the vehicle is in Ride mode and the system detects that the rider is not wearing a helmet, the EV will automatically switch to Park mode. Once the vehicle is in Park mode, a notification will appear on the dash to remind the rider to wear a helmet. Only if the system is able to detect that the rider is wearing a helmet, will the VCU allow the electric scooter/bike to switch to Ride mode, and it will then continue monitoring the rider.
TVS also recently announced that it was working on a camera-based helmet reminder system, but where Ola’s system will take it one step further is that the vehicle won’t be allowed to run if the rider isn’t wearing a helmet. In TVS’ case, only a warning message is displayed to the rider, and there has been no mention of the vehicle being locked in Park mode.