How RGNT powers electric motorcycle navigation with HERE Mobile SDKs

Based in Sweden, RGNT motorcycles was launched with the ambition of helping urban commuters swap cars for electric motorcycles and move from range anxiety to range confidence. For this #BuiltWithHERE spotlight, we had the opportunity to sit down with RGNT lead embedded developer, Olle Norelius, who provided us with insights into their navigation system’s development process and the unique features that sets their navigation system apart.

RGNT’s navigation system is integrated into their electric motorcycles and provides visual guides and knowledge about battery range. The primary interface is a 7” LCD touch display with IoT connectivity on the motorcycle itself. They also offer a companion app for route planning that seamlessly transfers the route to the motorcycle.

RGNT's Navigation System

Let’s get into the specifics of how the system was developed. The vehicle control unit (VCU) runs on an embedded processor on the motorcycle, controlling safety critical aspects of the bike, such as lights, speedometer, battery percentage, etc. The Human Machine Interface (HMI) runs a Linux computer controlling most rider facing functions including navigation. The system is built with the HERE Mobile SDK, which provides connectivity to the HERE platform, incorporating microservices and modularized components.

RGNT is primarily using HERE’s location services for EV routing, geocoding and isolines; the main feature of the navigation system is the 100% electric vehicle (EV) focused route planning. EV routing suggests the most economical route to take, accounting for battery level, road type and more. It has turn-by-turn navigation and shows how much battery will be used to get to the destination, helping alleviate range anxiety.

For range confidence, RGNT's navigation system displays two isolines in all directions from the starting point. They use the HERE Isoline Routing API v8 to calculate one-way and two-way isolines. Isolines are polygons where each point is within the reachable distance:

• One-way isolines show the reachable distance for a unidirectional journey, considering the current charge on the motorcycle. This feature is particularly useful for those who plan to travel one-way or stay overnight at a specific location where they can re-charge the motorcycle. In short, it’s the maximum distance that can be covered on a single charge.
• On the other hand, two-way isolines show the round-trip range, allowing riders to travel a distance that ensures they can make it back to the starting point without having to recharge the motorcycle. 

The system also uses the HERE Geocoding and Search API for searching for destinations and points of interest.

What’s Next

The team at RGNT is exploring dynamically generating the consumption speed tables to personalize the accuracy of battery usage estimates for each rider. The consumption speed tables specify energy consumption rate at a given free flow speed on a flat stretch of road. Currently, they rely on a static table generated from a standard route used during the bike certification process. The standard range on the motorcycle is 148 km (about 91.96 miles). However, given the diverse riding behavior of each rider, the existing method of calculating battery usage may not be one-size-fits-all. By analyzing data from every rider who has traveled a few routes, the system will be able to model their acceleration and other usage factors, thus creating a customized battery consumption estimate for each rider. This method aims to provide a more accurate and personalized riding range estimate.