The Coronavirus pandemic has eaten up much of the popularity of public transport. Uber-Ola is also not attractive to most. On short city trips, the electric scooter has increased in popularity. Wouldn’t it be great where a scooter could be called to the scene with a smartphone app and they come to pick you up?
In Georgia, USA, this miracle is already a reality. Curiosity Lab at Peachtree Corners (CLPC) is on a mission to solve many of the technological problems that cities and municipalities face across the country. The city is working with two visionary companies, Go X and Tortoise to revolutionize the mobility of e-scooters by solving the biggest problems: 1) Finding an e-scooter 2) Bringing the scooters back to the base for safe parking, charging and cleaning.
As a result, the world’s first fleet of teleoperated e-scooters, available to the public, was launched at Peachtree Corners. The “Hail my Scooter” app is reportedly the first app that allows the user to get the scooter to drive to a self-reported location. The Go X Apollo scooter rides itself to the location.
After the users have completed their trips, the scooters will return to a secure parking lot. To make this possible, e-scooters are repositioned by Tortoise’s remote teleoperators. There, the scooter will be cleaned and charged before the next gig.
A video shows how the service is already active in an experimental area in the small town of Georgia, with 100 self-driving scooters. The initial pilot test will last six months and marks the first time ever that teleoperated e-scooters will be used on public roads.
Go X has implemented COVID-19 health security measures to provide the safest transportation solution today. Each vehicle is thoroughly disinfected after being remotely repositioned in its home base and each Go X Apollo employee must pass a COVID-19 daily health check. Each scooter also has a sticker showing that it has been thoroughly disinfected and that it is COVID-19 free.
