During its launch event on June 17, Aeon Motor (hereinafter “Aeon”) unveiled the latest Ai-1 Ultra ABS, of which the smart dashboard, Croxera 6, features various new functions that amazed the audience. This electric scooter is arguably the “smartest” scooter in the world.
Holding a virtual launch event due to the ongoing pandemic, Aeon released its flagship model of AI-1 Ultra priced at NTD107,980 (USD 3,864), which costs slightly more than the current top model Ai-1 Sport ABS. Indeed, this new model with substantial upgrades is worth the price.
Regarding its appearance, Ai-1 Ultra differs from previous models in only three parts; it has a newly designed front inlet, a pair of Michelin City Grip Saver tires, and a marginally upgraded seat. However, the new product’s biggest selling point is its internal design.
“Ai-1 Ultra is currently the smartest electric scooter on Earth,” said Tony Lin, CEO of Aeon, without hesitation. Ai-1 Ultra is the first to adopt the Croxera 6 Smart Dashboard, which the company has put in hard effort to develop and distinguishes this new scooter from other counterparts.
Croxera 6 is run by the NXP i.MX6 chip, an automotive chip that is put on scooters for the first time. Croxera 6 boasts computation performance 10 times greater than previous products. With such a high-performance chip, Aeon also released a novel scooter operating system called Croxera Operating System (XOS), aiming to smoothly present diverse information on the dashboard.
Among various new features of Croxera 6, the most interesting one is the Dead Angle Prevention System (DAPS). The system—which can be paired with specific dash cams—shows the rear view on screen once the turn signal is on and closes it only until the signal is off.
Every scooter rider knows that no matter how they adjust the rearview mirror, there is always a dead angle; riders must thus sometimes turn their head to look back to ensure safety. By adding this new feature, Aeon Motor hopes to help riders reduce the frequency of turning their head back, eliminate blind spots when taking a turn and U turn, and ultimately guaranteeing riding safety.
Additionally, the rear view image does not unpleasantly occupy the entire screen. Instead, the image is accompanied by navigation information, speedometer, speed camera alerts, and several critical information, which demonstrates high performance of the automotive chip.
Moreover, Aeon upgraded the Smart Notice system to version 2.0, giving early warnings of road hazard and speed cameras. More importantly, Smart Notice is an open system. Therefore, in addition to the existing maps provided by HERE Technologies, Aeon will work with other institutions (e.g., the Ministry of Transportation and Communications, Institute for Information Industry, and National Cheng Kung University) to compile useful scooter-riding information and help reduce motorcycle accidents through early warnings.
Currently as an electric scooter vendor with the second highest sales in Taiwan, Aeon has made riders itching to have a try on this electric model with several groundbreaking features. Aeon Motor is still developing sales plans for existing customers who wish to upgrade their two-wheelers. Lin emphasized that since the company has spent two years on developing Croxera 6, the development team, at the very beginning, was meant to allow Aeon’s riders to upgrade their system. However, the company is still working on relevant accompanying schemes and pricing.
The made-in-Taiwan electric scooters are usually criticized for their overly plain looking or unvarying features. By proposing Croxera 6, Aeon demonstrates its ability to independently develop a product from the internal design to appearance, despite its dependence on Gogoro’s motor and battery system. Further, Aeon Motor deserves praise for its achievement of developing a cutting-edge and promising software architecture.