Bird Claims It's Found a Clever Way to Prevent Sidewalk Riding on Its E-Scooters

Stopping riders from using the e-scooters on sidewalks entails a lot of work, from accurately locating the moving vehicles to taking precise sidewalk measurements and taking immediate action on a large scale. Bird thinks it’s found an easier solution.

The California-based e-scooter rental service cut a deal with Swiss company u-blox, which specializes in developing chips and modules for wireless communication and positioning. The two have developed a Smart Sidewalk Protection system, which Bird boasts of being the world's first end-to-end, high-precision positioning solution specifically designed for micro-mobility use. This technology can deliver centimeter-level accuracy.

Using a module called u-blox ZED-F9R, Bird can accurately monitor e-scooters and determine if they are on the sidewalk or operated unsafely. In addition, the module can process real-time vehicle data such as the scooter's wheel speed, its spatial orientation, and more.

The two companies are offering a lot of techy explanations regarding the way this hyper-accurate module works, but the bottom line is that the device can identify people who ride the e-scooter on sidewalks. If the user ignores them, the e-scooter is safely brought to a stop.

The new technology is integrated into Bird's new scooters, with the company considers this to be a better alternative to externally mounted cameras. In addition, with the Smart Sidewalk Protection integrated into the vehicle, the risk of damaging it due to weather conditions or vandalism is reduced to a minimum.

One of the biggest advantages of the Bird & u-blox system is the fact that it’s considerably more reliable than traditional GPS receivers that can only deliver meter level accuracy, as suppose to this technology which offers centimeter-level precise GNSS positioning.