Get Your E-Scooter To Come To Your Location
January 28, 2021Autonomous tech is finding its way into every nook and cranny of our modern marketplace. Spin, the mobility arm of Ford Motor Company, is using the tech in its fleet of S-200 e-scooters to play an assistive role. And through its partnership with Tortoise, it plans on introducing it to cities in North America and Europe in 2021.
The S-200 is a three-wheeled e-scooter with an impressive party trick. It’s called Spin Valet and it utilizes Tortoise’s software with its built-in front facing and rear cameras. The end result, is the ability to summon the e-scooter to your desired location. Instead of having walk to an e-bike stand, the S-200 comes to you.
But that’s not all, Spin Valet allows the company’s operations team to remote reposition scooters if they are blocking a sidewalk, crosswalk or parked in a handicap space. Repositioning can also be done, if the scooter is parked in a location where it’s unlikely to be used for another trip.
Spin says that eventually this tech will allow the S-200 that are low on battery power, to be remotely guided to the nearest Spin Hub for charging. Now, the repositioning task happens at a maximum of 3mph or about 5km/h. As such we won’t need to worry about runaway e-scooters terrorizing pedestrians.
Later this year, Spin will offer in-app “scooter hailing” that will allow customers to request for an e-scooter in advance or in real time. Once confirmed, the operations staff will remotely send the scooter to the desired location. It’s a good solution to a recurring problem with e-scooters. This could deter vandals from ruining the platform.
The S-200 has three independent braking systems (regenerative rear brake, front and rear drum brakes) and turn signals (on handlebars and near the rear wheel). Co-developed by Spin and Segway-Ninebot, it uses the latest computer vision, machine learning, robotics technologies and advanced visual navigation system.
Unlike conventional scooters, the three-wheeled S-200 should draw more people to the platform, especially those who fear for the balance. There is no chance of one falling from the S-200 unless they collide with something.
