Image courtesy Beam
Industry and community expectations for e-scooter safety is taking the industry beyond GPS technology to more advanced systems to control how the vehicles are used, according to Asia Pacific’s largest shared micromobility provider.
The A/NZ General Manager of Beam, Tom Cooper, says the transition towards e-mobility is demanding higher technological capabilities, particularly as e-scooter density increases in cities.
Cooper will be a key speaker at Australia’s first Micromobility Conference & Expo, to be held on 25–26 November.
E-scooter safety continues to be the subject of scrutiny by public officials. However, Cooper says technology gives providers more control over the e-scooters and their riders than people might think — and it will only increase.
Tom Cooper, A/NZ General Manager of Beam
The technology required for e-scooters to operate on city streets surpasses what is expected from cars, including automatic speed limitations, rule enforcement by shared operators and 24/7 GPS tracking.
While most pavement detection technology relies on positioning such as GPS and detailed mapping of every road and pavement in a city, these solutions are not scalable and are unreliable because roads and pavements are often within a metre of one another.
Cooper says that Beam’s Pedestrian Shield system uses an on-board camera that instantly detects when users are riding on pavements, without the need for precise mapping and perfect positioning.
The Micromobility Conference & Expo 2022 will be held at Sydney’s Royal Randwick Racecourse.
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