The software-defined vehicle (SDV) promises an ever-evolving user experience. From safety and efficiency to infotainment and comfort, the possibility of constant upgrades and updates opens the door to a new mobility paradigm. So far, both headline space and market applications have focussed on passenger cars and commercial trucking, but SDV is certainly not limited to these segments.
“SDV as a concept applies to any vehicle,” says Sudhakar Bhagavatula, Chief Information Officer at motorcycle manufacturer Royal Enfield. “Passenger vehicles represent a closed environment—very different to what is found on a two-wheeler. Rendering software-defined experiences on two wheels is more complex but offers a real opportunity to build a special kind of connection between bike, rider, and terrain.”
And that’s exactly what the company has done with the new Flying Flea.
A bike that grows with you
With more than 125 years behind it, Royal Enfield is the world’s oldest global motorcycle brand in continuous production. Its latest model draws on that rich heritage. The original Flying Flea (officially the Royal Enfield WD/RE) was created in 1941 for the British War Office. Lightweight and agile, it was designed to be dropped into high risk areas by parachute to help soldiers carry messages.
The name is now being revived as Royal Enfield’s new electric vehicle (EV) brand, starting with the FF-C6 electric motorcycle. Pivotally, this is also the range that introduces its vision for connected motorcycling, offering smartphone digital keys, customisable ride modes and over-the-air (OTA) updates. “This is a bike that grows with you,” says Mario Alvisi, Chief Growth Officer, EVs, at Royal Enfield.
Much of the SDV capability is underpinned by Qualcomm expertise. At the heart of the FF-C6 ride experience is Royal Enfield’s in-house-developed operating system, powered by the Qualcomm Snapdragon QWM2290 system-on-chip. This enables the motorcycle to manage all aspects of the vehicle and ride experience through an interactive instrument cluster, securing multi-modal interaction with 4G, Bluetooth, and Wi-Fi connectivity. “This is a fully connected, fully updatable bike, offering a continuous evolution of features OTA,” says Nimish Shrivastava, Senior Director, Product Management at Qualcomm.
Riders can interact through touch screen, voice control, joystick, smartphone, and smartwatch. Integration with the Snapdragon Car-to-Cloud platform—in this case serving as bike-to-cloud—allows users to connect to their bike, monitor its status, and change their preferences remotely. “To render all these experiences, we’ve adopted the software-defined approach,” Bhagavatula states. “It’s the same inspiration and methodology seen with the software-defined car.”
From four wheels to two
The inspiration may be the same, but the deployment environment on a two-wheeler is more complex in terms of safety and security than that of an enclosed car or truck cabin. In some cases, these challenges open up new opportunities for software-defined experiences. Situational awareness is a case in point. “You can put cameras around the bike, and they detect potential hazards outside of the rider’s peripheral vision,” says Qualcomm’s Nakul Duggal, Group General Manager of Automotive, Industrial & Embedded IoT, and Cloud Computing.
Real-time diagnostics, advanced navigation, and personalised ride settings are just the start. The Royal Enfield team is particularly enthusiastic about the bike’s ability to offer driving coaching for improved efficiency based on observed driver behaviour and the specific terrain. While not every driver will necessarily welcome this feedback, others may find it invaluable. “Technology has a lot to offer if you’re open to it,” Duggal tells Automotive World. “You can always shut it off if you’re not.”
Royal Enfield is a big believer in co-creation and took in considerable feedback from riders while developing the bike and its specific features. “We put a lot of effort into talking with people,” Alvisi explains. “The initial idea of building a software-defined EV came from these conversations. People didn’t tell us, ‘I want an EV or an SDV,’ but they were telling us they wanted specific traits. We could identify clear trends.”
Above all, the aim is to have software features support a close rider-bike relationship that fits in with the user’s digital lifestyle. “The technology enhances the sense of freedom you have on a bike, taking it to the next level,” he adds. “It’s not an obstacle to freedom but rather allows you to connect with the bike in a new way. The aim is to make your life easier without the technology becoming invasive.”
The key to providing these freedom-enhancing digital experiences is a microservices architecture. With this approach, each application is composed of numerous smaller, loosely coupled and independently deployable services. “How do you put the right services on the device? What do you take it to the cloud? How do you bring updates at the right time? All those are more complex because of constraints within the bike, and microservices is the right way to do that,” Shrivastava claims.
An appreciating asset
A vehicle defined by software is one that can evolve over time, and that capability will soon become the ticket to play in any segment. “The whole idea is to make the bike an appreciating asset,” says Qualcomm’s Manmeet Singh, Senior Director of Business Development.
In terms of what that looks like on two-wheels, the future is wide open. Royal Enfield is currently considering offering users the option of downloading premium features, potentially at an extra cost but not necessarily. Down the line there could even be new forms of vehicle ownership made possible by digital advances. “There will be quite a lot of developments here,” says Alvisi.
As Bhagavatula adds: “What’s important, especially in the EV world, is not just the launch of the motorcycle, but that we can offer new experiences OTA over a period of time afterwards, all done through the platform.”
Despite the promised benefits, Royal Enfield is aware that not every rider will immediately embrace the move towards an electric, software-defined motorcycle. In many ways the two-wheeler segment is very traditional, but the company is willing to wait for its consumer base to come round in their own time. “Over the course of human history, whenever there is a big change, there are people that resist and others that immediately embrace it,” Alvisi points out. “It’s the latter that become the trendsetters, and gradually, if the change makes sense for the majority of people, then adoption starts.”
The first Flying Flea model will be the classic-styled FF-C6, followed by the scrambler-styled FF-S6. Both are scheduled to arrive on the global market by early 2026.
