I've been riding scooters for more than 25 years, and I can't say I've ever been excited about this category of two-wheelers until now. And at the moment, a Chinese upstart called Omoway has got me especially hot and bothered.
Launched by a team that cut its teeth at EV giant Xpeng, the startup recently revealed its first offering – the Omo X, a 'smart multiform electric motorcycle' that aims to go beyond the standard definition of a scooter. The big draw is its self-balancing chops that enable it to park itself.
Omoway showed that off for real at an event in Jakarta, Indonesia, last month. The Omo X wheeled itself out on a catwalk, positioned itself accurately on stage, and then raised itself on to its center stand without assistance. You can see in it action in the clip below.
A bunch of companies have been working on self-balancing bikes for a while now: Honda and Yamaha showed off their experimental approaches to this tech all the way back in 2017, and a Chinese company called Da Vinci Motors launched a US$27,500 bike that was said to be able to follow you around back in 2021. The lattermost's website still appears to be accepting pre-orders, and doesn't indicate when it will actually be available.
It's one thing to run a self-balancing demo in a small controlled environment like a lab or a custom-built stage; making it work reliably in the real world without incident is a whole other ball game. So it remains to be seen if Omoway can actually make this happen.
The X is equipped with Omoway's Halo Pilot suite of sensors and riding assistance tech, which enables self-parking and remote summon features, adaptive cruise control, and automatic reversing out of tight spots. The tech should also help you avoid toppling over in case you hit rough patches or small unexpected obstacles on the road.
There's also a bunch of cameras on board for multi-directional collision warnings, blind spot monitoring, and to enable assisted emergency braking. Renders show a massive screen on the dashboard to control these features. Oh, and there's a wireless charging pad beneath the chassis so you can juice up the scooter just by parking over a compatible charger.
It would be remiss of me not to talk about the way this thing looks. The Omo X is a big ol' hunk of cyberpunk vibe, with angular and blocky design elements beautifully juxtaposed in the bodywork, lighting, and silhouette. It reminds me of a couple of other big scooters like BMW's CE 04, the upcoming Ultraviolette Tesseract, and the Horwin Senmenti 0 – but the Omo X' slim headlights and beak-life front end give it a character all its own.
The X has another neat trick up its sleeve: it comes with additional body panels you can slap on to transform it from a step-through two-wheeler to a motorcycle you can lovingly grip between your thighs.
It can also support panniers and a top box on built-in frames if you've got luggage for a long ride, making the X feel more like a cruiser. The clip below should give you an idea of how this works.
There's a lot we don't yet know about the Omo X, including its power output and range. Electrek notes it's expected to become available in Asian markets early next year, and will cost roughly US$3,800. That's a pretty penny for a scooter, but it's a lot less than the $12,000 and change BMW is asking for its CE 04 in the US which, for all its futuristic styling, still needs a human to help keep it upright.
