Electric Kickboards Spotlighted as 1km Transport Mode
Expansion of Collaboration Between Autonomous Driving Platforms and Kickboard Sharing Services
The introduction of autonomous driving technology to electric scooters, which have emerged as urban transportation, is expected to accelerate. Photo by goX project
[Asia Economy Reporter Kim Heeyoon] The introduction of autonomous driving technology to electric kickboards, which have emerged as urban transportation means comparable to bicycles, is expected to accelerate.
According to industry insiders on the 7th, collaboration among electric kickboard sharing services, automakers, and autonomous driving software platforms is expanding.
Electric kickboard sharing service Ssingssing announced on the 5th that it will develop autonomous driving kickboards in partnership with the robot autonomous driving software platform Newility. Based on their big data, artificial intelligence, and other technologies, the two companies will promote cooperation in autonomous driving data and perception judgment fields. By acquiring alley and back road information through Ssingssing's mobility data, it will be possible to develop safer route exploration technology.
A Ssingssing official stated, “By acquiring autonomous driving-based technology optimized for urban electric kickboards, we will be able to expand services such as autonomous driving electric kickboard operation robots and delivery robots in the future.”
In the United States, pilot projects for autonomous driving electric kickboards are already underway. Last month, the electric kickboard pilot project 'Go X' by Curiosity Lab in Georgia, USA, released footage showing a kickboard automatically arriving at the requested location when called by a user.
After the user finishes using the kickboard and parks it, the kickboard autonomously moves to a designated parking spot to wait. Curiosity Lab explains that this reduces the effort of managers collecting kickboards scattered around, and allows maintenance, cleaning, and charging to be conducted at designated parking spots, improving management efficiency as well as usage rates.
Earlier, in 2018, Ford in the United States acquired the electric kickboard rental platform Spin. German automaker Daimler has been providing electric kickboard rental services throughout Germany since last year. Hyundai and Kia also revealed last year a vehicle built-in type electric scooter and announced they are considering offering it as an optional feature in new cars scheduled for release next year.
Experts analyze that as travel behavior changes and the proportion of trips under 5 km increases, automakers' interest in short-distance transportation means is growing.
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