A guide to electric scooter laws

Unagi Scooters has published a comprehensive guide to electric scooter laws in the US and around the globe. To no one’s surprise, scooter laws differ significantly from place to place, with some places not having yet assigned a legal status to these electric vehicles. To make things more complex, these laws change almost on a weekly basis with the rise of micromobility and shared mobility vying for a dominant position in urban areas. While scooter-sharing has brought an efficient way of last-mile transportation in cities, it has also made some problems more acute – scooters now play a prominent role in sidewalk congestion, traffic obstruction, de-beatification, and traffic accidents. As cities attempt to reign in the fast-growing micromobility , you can keep an eye on the appropriate laws with this guide. 

Comprehensive Guide to Electric Scooter Laws

Tortoise to use self-driving tech in scooters

Tortoise, a San Francisco based startup founded by ex-Uber executive, is working to apply self-driving car technology to scooters and bikes. The most important utilization of this feature would be not during the actual ride, but in redistributing the vehicles around the city or hailing them to charging stations. At the moment picking up uncharged scooters or redistributing them into the parts of city with a higher demand is one of the highest costs of scooter-sharing companies.

Tortoise already has an agreement with one of the cities in Georgia, the US to deploy and test its scooters on the streets. During the test phase, the scooters will be remotely controlled by the company stuff, however, eventually, the vehicles will be guided using self-driving technology. According to the company estimate, the technology will add less than 100$ to the cost of a scooter. The tech includes 2 cameras, a processor, a radar chip, a motor for steering the column and robotic wheels for 2-wheel vehicles. Segway is also working on a similar technology which it pitched in August. 

Via to launch on-demand transportation in Cupertino

Shuttle company Via will be launching an on-demand public transportation network in Cupertino, US. The shared vans will be branded with the city logo and will provide an efficient connection to public transportation like CalTrain. 

Via is a known name for those in the shared mobility business. It operates several ride-sharing operations in Berlin, London, and several European cities, as well as in the US in Chicago, Washington, DC and New York. The company also partners with cities and public transportation authorities.