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Lyft will provide free scooter rides to critical workers
Lyft will provide free 30-minute scooter rides to frontline workers during the coronavirus pandemic.
Get Segway's Kickscooter Max for $100 off, plus a $100 gift card
You need to stay at home most of the time these days, but what if you don't have a car and need to travel across town? Thankfully, there are options to keep your social distancing intact without hopping on a bike. Wellbots is offering Segway's Ninebot Kickscooter Max for $700 ($100 off the usual price) plus a $100 Visa gift card if you use the code ENGADGETRIDE. You won't get the gift card in the box -- instead, you can either wait for an email from Segway with instructions on how to redeem the card or visit a special redemption site and input your information to redeem it. Still, that could be helpful for getting a helmet and other accessories to go with the folding electric scooter.
Uber sues LA’s Dept. of Transportation for warrantless record requests
The data privacy battle between Uber's Jump scooter service and the Los Angeles Department of Transportation has been brewing over the last 18 months. After refusing to share real-time location data on its scooter riders, Uber was ordered by the LADOT to remove its scooters from the city. According to CNET, Uber is now suing the LADOT for allegedly violating the Fourth Amendment by seeking the company's business data without a warrant.
France threatens large fines and possible jail time for e-bike mods
France does not look kindly upon e-bike owners that hot rod their wheels. The country has just introduced a law that could see "offenders" slapped with a maximum fine of €30,000 (US$34,000), and up to a year in jail. And they could have their driving license suspended for up to three years.
Bird wants you to make purchases through its mobile app
E-scooter startup Bird has started testing a new in-app payments feature called Bird Pay. If you live in Santa Monica or Los Angeles, you can try it out at select businesses across the two cities. If you see a tablet like the one pictured above, you can pay for a purchase by opening the Bird app, scanning a QR code, entering the amount you owe and then swiping up to confirm the payment. It's not as straightforward of a solution as say Apple Pay, but it does bypass the need for an NFC terminal -- which businesses in the US have been slow to adopt.
Lime knows when you're riding its scooters on the sidewalk
Scooter sharing services have created headaches for pedestrians almost from the outset, including the tendency for renters to ride on the sidewalk. Lime may have a way to nudge riders back to the street, though. It just launched a pilot in downtown San José that uses accelerometer and speed data to detect when you're riding on the sidewalk. If AI determines that half or more of a ride took place on sidewalks, you'll get a push notification encouraging you to ride on the street the next time.
Segway's S-Pod is a ridiculous lounge chair on wheels
Yes, the Segway S-Pod looks a lot like the floating chairs that future humans use in Wall-E. Ok, that's out of the way.
E-scooter injuries quadrupled in four years
It probably won't shock you to hear that the rise of e-scooters and their matching services has led to more injuries, but researchers now have some more tangible proof. A UCSF study indicates that electric scooter-related injuries in the US jumped 222 percent between 2014 and 2018, with over 39,000 people hurting themselves. There were 'only' about 3,300 hospital admissions, but that's an increase of a staggering 365 percent. Most first-time injuries came to the 18-to-34 crowd. And yes, the lack of helmets was a problem -- almost a third of injuries involved some kind of head trauma.
Segway’s latest EV prototype looks like Professor X’s wheelchair
Once you get past oddities like bread-making machines, CES is really wouldn't be what it is without some forward-looking mobility concepts. Case and point: next week Segway and owner Ninebot will show off a prototype electric vehicle called the S-Pod that looks like a horseless chariot.
Segway-Ninebot adds electric scooter, moped options
Ninebot acquired Segway and its personal transports a few years ago, but now their combined transportation aspirations are growing up with two devices announced at an event in China ahead of CES 2020. The Ninebot eMoped and eScooter can both carry riders for miles and will come in a range of models to suit different needs. The eMoped (above) is described as a "smart electric bike" that comes in three versions, with a keyless airlock system that lets riders unlock it and take off by unlocking it with NFC. Its storage compartment is big enough to hold one helmet inside, and the high-end C80 model can travel up to 46 miles on a charge with the 24Ah battery inside.
Bird's first non-electric scooter is made for kids
Bird is making a traditional kick-powered scooter for kids. The California-based startup, which has flooded countless cities with dockless electric scooters, will sell its child-friendly Birdie for $129 throughout the holiday season. The vehicle comes in three colors -- Jet Black, Dove White and Electric Rose -- and has all of the basic features you would expect from a three-wheeled scooter, such as height-adjustable handlebars, a lean-to-steer frame and rear-mounted "stomp brake." The company has warned that only "a limited number" are being made, so act fast if you fancy one.
Bird offers scooter credits when you take 'helmet selfies'
Scooter sharing companies have tried numerous ways of promoting helmet use, but Bird is trying a particularly direct method -- good, old-fashioned rewards. The service has introduced a "Helmet Selfie" feature that offers perks in return for snapping a photo of yourself wearing a helmet at the end of your trip. Computer vision automatically detects the helmet to keep riders honest. The full range of rewards isn't available, but ride credits are part of them. You may get to ride more often simply by protecting your cranium, then.
San Francisco may open a new office to prevent 'reckless' tech rollouts
San Francisco has a history of dealing with out-of-control tech deployments -- just ask people who had to wade through piles of scooters for months until the city started the permit process. Companies might have to be more careful going forward, however. Board of Supervisors President Norman Yee has revealed a proposal to establish an Office of Emerging Technology that could rein in the more 'reckless' impulses of tech firms. It would help companies obtain permits and licenses from appropriate departments, but it would also gauge the potential effects of a rollout and shut down projects that could harm privacy, safety and security.
Yamaha's latest EV concepts include two city scooters
Yamaha clearly wants to make a name for itself in electric two-wheelers. It's coming to the Tokyo Motorshow on October 24th with four brand new EV concepts, three of which are built for intercity jaunts. The centerpieces are the E01 (pictured at left) and E02 (right) urban scooters. The E01 is equivalent to a 125cc gas-powered machine and is meant to be larger and comfier than your typical scooter to help with longer trips. It accordingly touts "plenty of range," although Yamaha hasn't said what that would be. The E02, meanwhile, is a 50cc-equivalent scooter with a compact body and a removable battery. It's more for weaving through dense downtown areas than cross-town journeys.
Florida man arrested for cutting the brake lines of over 100 e-scooters
E-scooters are convenient for tourists and commuters who want to get around a city. They're equally inconvenient for drivers and pedestrians who have to keep out of the way of scooter traffic. (And that's not to mention the risks they pose during a hurricane.) Florida man Randall Thomas Williams certainly isn't a fan of the on-demand vehicles. According to NBC Miami, police apprehended the man on September 29th for resisting arrest, prowling and a 3rd degree felony count of criminal mischief.
Gogoro’s smaller scooter is built for international expansion
Gogoros smart scooters are unique in that they use battery-swapping technology to keep riders on the road instead of tethered to a charging station. The company has an impressive network of over 1,400 GoStation chargers in its home base of Taipei, Taiwan. But it's ready to expand outside of Taiwan and the bike its going to do that with is the new Viva.
Lyft unifies transportation options inside its app
Lyft is countering Uber's moves by making it easier to find every transportation option inside its app -- including the ones that won't give the company a dime. It's rolling out updates that unify transportation searches, whether it's bikes, scooters, rideshares, rentals or mass transit. The standard search now displays every choice within view rather than defaulting to ridesharing, and lets you compare options once you've set a destination. Tabs let you narrow the searches if you're only interested in one option.
Lyft's app shows bike lanes to help riders find smoother routes
Just because you can ride a bike somewhere doesn't mean you want to -- many cyclists can tell tales of braving streets that are downright dangerous to two-wheelers. You might not need an intuitive knowledge of where to ride after today, at least. Lyft has introduced bike lanes to its apps, giving you a greater chance of finding a smoother route for your bike or scooter. Any protected lanes will appear as solid green, while those that are 'just' bike-friendly will be dotted green.
Lime makes group scooter rides available in the US
It's not always easy to ride with others using scooter services. Even if there are enough scooters available, asking everyone to pull out their phones (and pay for a trip) can be a bit much. It should be much easier to travel as a pack going forward, at least. Lime is bringing its Group Ride feature to the US and Canada, letting one person unlock as many as five scooters from a single account. You just have to tap a "Group Ride" button and pick the scooters you want. If someone has an early stop, the host can end their ride at any time.
Hyundai's electric scooter prototype is built for 'last mile' rides
Hyundai teased prospects of its own electric scooter back at CES 2017, but it's now showing that it's much more committed to the concept in 2019. The automaker has unveiled a foldable e-scooter prototype intended for "last mile" rides when a car is impractical. It would perform about as well as Audi's E-Tron Scooter with a 12.4-mile range and a 12.4MPH top speed, but it's explicitly designed to integrate with Hyundai and Kia cars. You could even mount it in an EV and recharge through electricity produced while driving.
