On December 2022, they started with delivery of the first S1 scooters. India's fastest electric scooters, combining impressive speed and performance with a user-friendly, 7-inch touchscreen and an effortless control on the go with Ola Electric App.
Ola S1 scooters are keyless and require a passcode or an app access to unlock the scooter. Many users had trouble sharing scooters with their loved ones and friends. With MoveOS 3, it was finally time to introduce a scooter sharing feature.
As general rule, while sharing scooter with friends & family. They just give them the key and will get it back when scooter is returned. This becomes slightly tricky when your scooter is keyless. This meant they had to keep changing the passcode everytime they let someone else use their scooter - even for a little while. Which is troublesome and makes your scooter highly unsecure if you forgot to change your passcode.
Research & Discovery
We checked what other vehicle manufactures are doing to handle multiple profiles or key sharing. Such a feature has mostly been in cars uptill now and almost never in an two wheeler. We went through flows for Tesla, Rivian & the likes.
Would there be a guests with temporary access?
How will the passcode sharing happen?
What kind of customization options would other profiles have?
What info we would need from users to create profiles in the scooters?
How would we verify user's identity to ensure security?
Explorations
Our initial concept centered around a guest user feature, a straightforward yet innovative solution to scooter access. This feature was designed to allow a primary user to invite a guest without requiring the guest's phone number. Instead, the process involved setting a time limit or expiration for access, generating a unique passcode, and sharing this passcode with the guest user.
Early on, we recognized the importance of security and decided against using a standard passcode for each new profile. The rationale was to prevent security lapses, especially in scenarios where the new rider might neglect to change the passcode, thus leaving the scooter vulnerable. Although the guest user approach was initially appealing due to its simplicity and ease of implementation, we ultimately prioritized security. Consequently, we had to rethink and redesign the process, leading to the current flow.
Introducing Scooter Access
Share your scooter Effortlessly with friends & family while allowing riders to manage their own profiles. Scooter riding becomes even more convenient than ever! Allow riders to manage their own profiles.
How Scooter owner know who has the scooter?
Scooter owner always know where their scooter is and who is riding the scooter. We did this by handling the scooter states that we already had by changing the copy just a bit.
Reaction
The feature was first rolled out to limited users in MoveOS 3 BETA release in October 2022. The feature was officially rolled out to all the Ola Electric S1 users in December 2022.
Conclusion
The project evolved through numerous revisions guided by valuable feedback from various team members. These insights were instrumental in refining the nuances of the project, ensuring a comprehensive and well-thought-out approach.
Overall, this feature enhances the flexibility and convenience of using shared scooters while maintaining security & personalization.
