Three-wheeled e-scooter targets Gold Coast community concerns
A new type of shared e-scooter promising to address some of Gold Coast residents’ biggest safety concerns has hit the Aussie market. Is it enough to solve the city’s e-vehicle crisis? Have your say in our poll
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A new type of shared e-scooter promising to address some of Gold Coast residents’ biggest safety concerns has hit the Aussie market.
Following successful trials in New Zealand, the three-wheeled Ario device includes AI-powered safety features to help prevent crashes and remote reparking technology to move scooters cluttering footpaths.
The national launch comes months after the city’s first e-scooter fatality in June and the same week a Gold Coast father-to-be died in a fatal e-scooter crash in Nerang on Friday.
The move follows a call from Gold Coast residents and politicians for tougher regulations on the motorised devices.
Ario head of communications Trent Williams said prior to any roll outs the company would “map out” an entire city using one of the scooters and its four built-in cameras, meaning it would have the capacity to ‘force stop’ in restricted areas.
“If council decided that scooters couldn’t go on the road our device is capable of actually recognising the surface and the ride will stop if it’s taken on the road,” he said.
“The other thing that we can do is, with the front camera and the side cameras, it can sense hazards which means if someone’s riding the e-scooter and there’s somebody that walks in front of it, it’ll automatically sense that and stop or slow down.”
Mr Williams said in coming months the company also planned to introduce a locked helmet with a sensor – meaning no helmet, no ride.
“We haven’t begun communications with Gold Coast Council yet, but we’ve certainly been in discussions with different councils all around Australia, and there’s definitely interest in what we can do,” he said.
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Originally published as Three-wheeled e-scooter targets Gold Coast community concerns
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