Superpedestrian, a maker of smart scooters, has raised some $60 million from investors to expand its fleet of vehicles that have an intelligence system alerting for safety hazards.
The latest company approved to rent e-scooters in San Jose deploys artificial intelligence to make sure riders follow the rules. Riders who zip over the city’s 12-mile-an-hour scooter speed limit will find their ride slowed down. Repeat offenders will be banned from using the app at all.
“I swear, our scooters are smarter than me,” joked Meredith Starkman, a spokesperson for the Link e-scooters, a subsidiary of the Boston-area company Superpedestrian. “The scooter checks its own safety.”
With AI onboard, Link claims each scooter can sense how fast it’s traveling or if a unit is near an area where e-scooters are banned. Each scooter slows to a stop if an obstacle is detected or if a rider moves too fast. The company will soon introduce financial incentives, such as discounted rides, to encourage proper parking and riding.
