Vogo – The tech under the hood
Vogo, a bike rental service operator is moving mountains in-vehicle tech and security segment. Vogo has about 5k two-wheelers in the country and is slowly spreading its wings to multiple cities in India. The Bangalore based startup has gained the trust and investment of Ola, Sachin Bansal’s BAC, Hero Motors and a few other investors. Scooter or Car rental business is very tricky in India. The biggest operational problem would be to manage petty thefts. Here is how Vogo works now. You walk to a Vogo station, open the app on your mobile and you get to choose a bike in the station, rent it and then return it back to the same or any other station. Many operators use the OTP method to authenticate the engagement and the user has to key in the OTP in the number pad on the bike and start the trip. But Vogo has improvised this process and enabled a key-less/ OTP-less trip initiation process. Similar to the Zoomcar app, the Vogo app talks to the bike over Bluetooth connectivity and the user can see a bunch of information like fuel, battery, and helmet status before committing the trip. Also, Vogo is trying to reduce the load on the ground staff and giving the freedom of rent anywhere and drop anywhere option very soon. But it can happen when their entire operation also scales up.
Security Tech – Simple, yet assuring
When Vogo moves on to that strategy, they would need to implement a lot of tech in their bike to secure the bike, both in the interest of the company and of the customers. Vogo has learned that the stuff that is most prone to theft is fuel and tyres. They have implemented several methods to prevent such thefts.
Easy to Use
Vogo rents out both petrol and electric bikes. NDS and Ather bikes are being added to their fleet as we speak. All bikes are fitted with a connectivity mechanism that lets them communicate with each other and also with the server as needed, on-demand or regularly. Vogo does not modify the vehicles extensively, but they tap on the mechanical and electric sensors on the vehicle and get information from them, without disturbing their primary function. When you open the app and connect to the bike, you will know its fuel level, battery status and also helmet presence. The user does not need any key, they can start or stop the trip with their mobile. They can stop the engine multiple times during the trip. Even if the mobile battery dies, there are ways to end the trip remotely.
Vogo is committed to taking care of the safety and interests of the customers, but that does not mean any compromise on their business. They rely heavily on technology. In my interaction with Mr Anand Ayyadurai, CEO and founder of Vogo, I figured out how committed this company is towards being a tech-driven firm. As we speak, Vogo is spreading its operation across Bangalore, Hyderabad, and Chennai. Vogo bike rental service is a good alternative to public transport. It is a secure solution for people preferring a private shared mode of transport. The next time, you want to head out to achieve something, you might want to check out for Vogo Bikes in your vicinity.
