Uber Is Heading To Self-Driving Scooters And Bikes

After warnings of frequent traffic accidents, a deadly traffic accident caused Uber to call self-driving cars out of traffic throughout 2018. On Sunday, TechCrunch said the company is currently developing a program that uses smaller self-driving vehicles such as bicycles and scooters.

Jump bike and scooter

TechCrunch said many comments suggest that Uber is aiming to study self-driving “micromobility” vehicles. It is easy to see that electric bikes and scooters rental services are currently very developed in many cities around the world. This is a potential market for Uber to invest in. According to The Telegraph, the company is currently seeking human resources for the new division - Micromobility Robotics. The group has said it aims to develop bicycles and scooters that can drive themselves to the charging station. Moreover, they can pick up passengers themselves in order to save people time walking to their stations.

Advanced Technologies Group of Uber uploaded a Google form with the aim of attracting talents. The form says that, at Uber, the New Mobilities team is researching how to improve the operation of public bikes and scooters through robot technologies and sensor applications. At the same time, the group also focused on research on the safety and quality of the driver's experience.

Uber's development of self-driving scooters and bikes will bring a complete change to the company. Currently, Uber also operates bikes and scooters rental services, known as Jump. However, like its rivals Lime and Bird, it can be costly to have contractors pick up the bikes and scooters after rides. Besides, the management of these vehicles by companies is not really effective. Typically, both Lime and Bird's businesses are restricted in San Francisco for launching without permission as well as scooters being left around. Not to mention last year, there was a guerrilla that sabotaged them by the people of the West Bank region.

Mayor Jorge Elorza (on the right) is riding a Jump bike with Tom Croswell (CEO of Tufts Health Plan) in Providence, Rhode Island in July 2018.

In December 2018, Uber introduced improvements in the next generation of JUMP bicycles. Its battery is interchangeable and they can diagnose themselves. The purpose of this improvement is to reduce downtime and improve the economy. And perhaps like self-driving scooters can be a reasonable solution for future business development.

As noted by TechCrunch, Uber Jump bikes have been upgraded to feature swappable batteries and self-diagnostic capabilities to optimize their efficiency. Apparently, self-driving scooters can significantly help the company develop its business further.

According to the data obtained, the pilot is being applied at present have contributed to increasing the number of injured. Tests showed that some models had serious problems. For example, Bird's scooters were tested in 2018 by Bradley Brownell of Jalopnik, some of which were found to have faulty brakes. Many people are increasingly concerned about the dangerous problems of self-driving scooters. In January last year, a survey showed that only 27% of the respondents felt comfortable sitting in an autonomous car.

There is still nothing to be absolutely sure about this plan because Uber has yet to make a formal statement about it and the hiring has just started. But what is certain is that it will take a long time for new scooters and bicycles to be available to the public.