Spin, a shared e-scooter company and micromobility subsidiary of Ford, has partnered with tech company Tortoise to provide an innovative automated e-scooter service that will revolutionize the world of commuting forever.
Even with the hope and assumption that COVID-19 will be under control eventually, we can expect that some things will never be the same. For instance, the way we view commuting. Avoiding crowded trains and stations will likely be preferred for a long time to come, and people will increasingly seek alternative solutions to get to work.
E-scooters have already proven to be a popular, environmentally friendly, affordable, and socially distanced public-transport substitute for commuters worldwide. The global electric scooter market size was estimated at $18.6 billion in 2019, and public e-scooter services like Spin, Lime, and Bird, which have been around since 2017, have become almost as prevalent as City Bikes.
However, despite these e-scooter companies’ greatest eco-saving and traffic-reducing intentions, as with any disruptive new technology, there have been difficulties to overcome. Even as people embraced this new way of getting around, e-scooters were frequently found lying around in the middle of the sidewalk, blocking entrances, and tripping people. Instead of discarding the idea of public e-scooters altogether to avoid lawsuits, the solution was to upgrade and innovate.
Enter Tortoise’s pioneering e-scooter automation technology, which not only solves the problem of abandoned scooters but is groundbreaking in more ways than one.
E-Scooters That Drive and Park Themselves
Ford-owned micromobility company Spin has just announced that it will be partnering with Tortoise to mitigate the pain points e-scooters have brought to cities. With the Spin Valet app, you can order an e-scooter to arrive at your doorstep (like an Uber) in advance or in real-time — which it will, by itself! — hop on, and scoot yourself to work. Upon reaching the destination, simply park the e-scooter wherever is convenient, and — get this — the scooter will then drive itself to either a safe parking space out of the way of pedestrians and street traffic, to the next user, or to a Spin Hub for charging, as needed.
These remotely operated scooters that sound like something straight from the future will make their debut in Boise, Idaho, at the end of this month. The city will receive 300 of Spin’s S-200 three-wheeled e-scooters with the Tortoise remote-controlled technology.
In addition to features like advanced suspension, three braking systems, and turn signals that make for safe, stable, and easy riding, even for beginners, these scooters, manufactured by Segway Ninebot, have embedded front and rear cameras, as well as GPS, to enable the Tortoise operations team to locate each scooter and remotely drive it where it needs to go.
Although pilots in crowded cities have proved successful, going live in a smaller city like Boise gives the company the practice and experience needed to expertly remotely operate these scooters before taking them to larger cities where vehicle parking will need to be especially orderly and precise. Plans to bring this advanced e-scooter service to cities in North America and Europe are in the works — Milton Keynes in the U.K. is next in line — and, very soon, we can expect that seeing ghost-ridden e-scooters whizzing around the streets will be the new norm.
