Spin: With AI against e-scooter rowdies

pte20201218019 Technology / digitization, cars / traffic

Innovative system detects driving on the sidewalk and careless parking

Correct parking: Artificial intelligence pays attention to this (Photo: spin.app)

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San Francisco (pte019 / 18.12.2020 / 11: 30) – The e-scooter rental company Spin, which belongs to Ford http://spin.app declares war on rowdies via AI. In an exclusive partnership, Spin will install the “PathPilot” technology from Drover AI from next year http://drover.ai in his scooter. This promises, among other things, an automatic detection of the driving on sidewalks including an acoustic warning signal and checks whether the scooter used has been parked correctly.

AI against brazen users

A big problem with rental e-scooters are users for whom road traffic regulations are a foreign word and who simply put the scooter used somewhere – no matter how much they are in the way. For example, this led to the temporary ban on rental scooters in San Francisco in 2018. It is precisely such human stupidity that the Drover AI technology should prevent as much as possible in the future in Spins e-scooters. PathPilot relies on computer vision and machine learning and promises scooters the ability to capture their surroundings in real time.

Ford is thus expanding its “Spin Insight” platform, which has already been able to enforce speed limits, for example. From 2021, thanks to Drover AI, Spin Insight Level 2 will also detect sidewalks and give acoustic warning signals to protect pedestrians. There is also a detection for driving on cycle lanes and for whether the scooter has been parked correctly. The system should be able to enforce the applicable local regulations. It also collects data on journeys, which should help city administrations to identify possible infrastructure problems.

Start in spring in New York

Spin is currently seeking approval in the City of New York. The plan is to start there in spring, with the detection of sidewalks and incorrect parking being used on a large scale for the first time. A rollout of this feature is planned for further cities in the USA, Great Britain and other parts of the world in 2021. This probably also means Germany, where Spin started in Cologne in June this year and is now represented in seven cities.

(The End)