Helsinki has launched a pilot challenge to check e-scooters geared up with AI-powered sensors that monitor rider behaviour and flag security dangers in actual time.
Backed by the European Union, the trial includes 40 shared e-scooters from Tier-Dott, one among Europe’s largest operators.
Every car is fitted with sensors developed by UK-based See.Sense, which detect sudden braking, swerving, and vibrations that will sign highway hazards. The info is then analysed and visualised by means of a mobility information platform developed by French startup Vianova.
The pilot is coordinated by Discussion board Virium Helsinki, the town’s innovation company, as a part of the EU-funded ELABORATOR challenge. The objective is to assist cities take a extra proactive method to e-scooter security.
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“Through the use of superior expertise, we might help the town achieve new details about accidents and close to misses, in addition to locations the place dangerous conditions are concentrated,” stated Noora Reittu, senior challenge supervisor of ELABORATOR.
Micromobility has confronted rising scrutiny in Europe following an increase in accidents and deaths. In 2023, police in Germany registered 9,425 e-scooter accidents, 22 of which had been deadly, double the earlier 12 months.
Cities have responded with new restrictions. Paris voted to ban rental e-scooters in 2023. Different cities, together with Oslo and Madrid, have capped fleet sizes, launched no-parking zones, or tightened pace limits.
Operators are below strain to show they will combine safely into city mobility techniques. Profitability stays a problem, with rising {hardware} prices, competitors, and regulatory hurdles slicing into margins. Tier-Dott, fashioned by the 2024 merger of Tier and Dott, has stated it goals to scale extra sustainably by means of data-driven collaboration with cities.
By embedding sensors in autos, the Helsinki pilot shifts focus from rider behaviour alone to infrastructure high quality — a transfer the companions say might assist handle the foundation causes of many accidents.
“Partnering altogether with the Metropolis of Helsinki permits us to transcend reactive security initiatives and to proactively determine dangers because of real-time information,” stated Elina Bürkland, Dott’s head of public coverage for the Nordics.
Outcomes from the pilot will feed into broader EU analysis on protected, inclusive transport and should inform future regulation. For now, Helsinki turns into the most recent testbed in Europe’s evolving micromobility experiment.
