Very soon we would see Self-driving scooters whizzing around without their riders as tech development California-based start-up, Tortoise is currently working on self-driving technology, that will see bikes and scooters driving themselves home after their owners have used them. Even Uber earlier this year announced that it was working towards the same goal.
With the new technology to be launched next month, the initiative is in progress and Segway hire schemes already exist around the world. This also means that the roads will see fewer bikes and scooters lying around in obscure places. The Tortoise’s scheme will also help in keeping the arrangements running smoothly.
Though the technology is yet not in use, a video surfaced online of a scooter that is seen driving itself back to the docking stations, with the help of stabilizer wheels. The scooters will first be launched in the city of Peachtree Corners, Georgia, to lessen the congestion at lunchtimes. It will then roll out the technology in two other cities in Europe.
Tortise also revealed that they would first try to travel on simple routes, places where there are no many people because if the scooter falls over, it wouldn’t be able to get back up on its own and will require a human to pick it.
Further giving more details of the new self-driven SCOOTERS, a spokesperson stated, “The system would automatically ping the operator letting them know human intervention is required. Because we’ll be optimizing for smooth routes with not a lot of foot traffic (when possible) the hope is that this isn’t as huge of an issue as it currently is with scooters.”