U.S electric scooter rental company, Spin, operates in various cities in the United States and provides rental scooters that can be parked after completion. However, the company recognizes the inherent danger posed by improperly parked scooters to pedestrians, especially people with disabilities.
In San Francisco, California, where Spin has the largest fleet of scooters, the San Francisco City Department of Transportation requires operators to respond to improperly parked scooters within two hours and can fine the operator $100 for each misplaced scooter. The purpose of fines and response requirements is to prevent scooters from being parked on the sidewalk. The company said it takes this very seriously and the average response time in the past three months is 54 minutes. Spin hopes to respond faster, and has begun researching how to reposition the scooter without the employees needing to respond. To achieve this goal, Spin announced an alliance with Tortoise to launch a new type of scooter called Spin S-200.
This scooter is a remotely operated electric scooter that will be deployed to cities in North America and Europe in 2021. This scooter will become part of the Spin Valet platform, making it possible to remotely operate the Spin fleet and reposition the scooter from pedestrians and other traffic in a matter of seconds. The new scooter was jointly developed with Xiaomi’s partner Segway-Ninebot, and the first pilot city will be Boise, Idaho.
Starting this spring, Spin plans to deploy 300 scooters for the project and use the knowledge learned there to provide references for future projects with global partners. Spin Valet will use the front and rear cameras and GPS built into the new S-200 scooter for precise positioning. Remote operators from Tortoise will be able to safely reposition the vehicle at a speed of 2 to 3 miles per hour, thereby relocating improperly parked scooters.
The platform will also allow the scooter to be repositioned to a location for use in times of high demand. These scooters will also be equipped with replaceable batteries. The company said that eventually, riders will be able to call an electric scooter and let it come to the pick-up location.
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