Milwaukee is first market in world to test scooter sidewalk tracking technology
Electric scooters are back and so are the concerns of sidewalk riders."Sidewalk riding, the survey results and in general our observations from the 2019 pilot study, is of a concern," said Milwaukee Department of Public Work's Brian DeNeve. "That was actually probably the largest concern that we had during the pilot study."Now a new pilot study begins, and it's designed to see how the city can implement scooters as a means of transportation safely.The city chose three companies, Bird, Lime and Spin, which made changes to technology to discourage riding on the sidewalk."Anything we can do to get people out of cars for trips that don’t need to be in cars we’re a fan of," said Alex Nesic, the co-founder of Dover AI, an intelligence company that implemented its technology in Spin scooters. "We’re trying to deploy technology that helps cities embrace this type of mobility with safety and responsibility in mind because we really believe in the future of micro-mobility."Nesic told WISN 12 News Milwaukee is the first market in the world to test the new technology."Our technology effectively serves as kind of like a dashcam for micro-mobility vehicles," he said. "It uses a camera on board and some processing power to effectively distinguish between things like a sidewalk, and a street and a bike lane that may be very close to each other, but our system has the ability to contextually recognize those."Bird and Lime utilize similar technology and will send a notification to riders who don't follow the rules. Spin, however, goes a step further to discourage it."Spin has designed a sound that will be played on a loop similar to a seat belt warning sound in a car," Nesic said. "It serves two purposes, one to nudge the user potentially off the sidewalk into designated infrastructure for scooters, and B it will also help warn bystanders and pedestrians of the fact that somebody is on the sidewalk riding an otherwise silent device."DPW told WISN 12 News up to 3,000 scooters could be out in the city by the end of the pilot study later this year.
Electric scooters are back and so are the concerns of sidewalk riders.
"Sidewalk riding, the survey results and in general our observations from the 2019 pilot study, is of a concern," said Milwaukee Department of Public Work's Brian DeNeve. "That was actually probably the largest concern that we had during the pilot study."
Now a new pilot study begins, and it's designed to see how the city can implement scooters as a means of transportation safely.
The city chose three companies, Bird, Lime and Spin, which made changes to technology to discourage riding on the sidewalk.
"Anything we can do to get people out of cars for trips that don’t need to be in cars we’re a fan of," said Alex Nesic, the co-founder of Dover AI, an intelligence company that implemented its technology in Spin scooters. "We’re trying to deploy technology that helps cities embrace this type of mobility with safety and responsibility in mind because we really believe in the future of micro-mobility."
Nesic told WISN 12 News Milwaukee is the first market in the world to test the new technology.
"Our technology effectively serves as kind of like a dashcam for micro-mobility vehicles," he said. "It uses a camera on board and some processing power to effectively distinguish between things like a sidewalk, and a street and a bike lane that may be very close to each other, but our system has the ability to contextually recognize those."
Bird and Lime utilize similar technology and will send a notification to riders who don't follow the rules. Spin, however, goes a step further to discourage it.
"Spin has designed a sound that will be played on a loop similar to a seat belt warning sound in a car," Nesic said. "It serves two purposes, one to nudge the user potentially off the sidewalk into designated infrastructure for scooters, and B it will also help warn bystanders and pedestrians of the fact that somebody is on the sidewalk riding an otherwise silent device."
DPW told WISN 12 News up to 3,000 scooters could be out in the city by the end of the pilot study later this year.
Gloss