The Bolt platform will “soon” launch a scoring system for scooter users that, at the limit, could prevent them from circulating for a week, a measure that appears after the launch of the Safety Commitment.
Speaking to Lusa, Bolt’s micromobility manager in Portugal, Frederico Venâncio, explained that, after launching its Safety Commitment, a document that has guidelines for promoting scooter safety, the company decided to implement a safety assessment system behaviors on scooters.
“Both complement each other. We did a study to basically understand what are the priorities for the good growth of micromobility in cities and we reached nine points that are fundamental for this good development”, she explained.
According to the official, the first point has to do with working together with the municipalities, from data sharing, to compliance with the rules, to synergies between the municipalities themselves.
Regarding the second point, the official points out the education and awareness programs for users, which include the new system that Bolt “will implement very soon in Portugal”.
According to Frederico Venâncio, what Bolt did was “take all the solutions it already has, with all the sensors available on scooters, and start evaluating the behavior of each user, such as, for example, in the parking lot”.
If it is badly stopped “it will already give you an evaluation ranking”, he explained.
“We pay attention to trips with more than one user, a pilot project. The type of braking carried out will also be checked, whether they are too sudden or sudden”, he said, noting that the system will also check for any type of skid, fall or collision with the scooter.
According to the person in charge, all the indicators together will give the metrics of the users, which means that, if a user has “a very low percentage of evaluation, taking into account the system, there will be some penalties”.
The penalties will range from a warning through the application, a notification warning that you are not driving in the best way and a penalty a “bit more severe”, which is the reduction to a speed of 15 km/hour.
Ultimately, “after verifying that the warnings do not change behavior, the user’s account is suspended” for a week, he added.
“Of course we want all users and all citizens to be able to use scooters, but we want them to use them correctly, safeguarding their own safety. Therefore, if we see that there is inappropriate behavior, we will not have any problem suspending or blocking an account, because not only is your safety at risk, but that of any other pedestrian walking on the street”, stressed Frederico Venâncio.
In the study, points were also identified that involve the company having “increasingly safer vehicles”, the prevention of trips under the influence of alcohol or drugs, whose cognitive reaction test in the application is already in operation, based on certain hours of the night, and which prevents drunk driving.
“If you don’t have enough agility to take the test, you won’t be able to make the trip”, he explained.
Frederico Venâncio also recalled the preservation of public space, namely in the organization of ‘parking spots’, adding that there is already a parking solution controlled by artificial intelligence, when, at the end of the journey, the user is obliged to take a picture it will check that the scooter is well parked.
The study also mentions the protection of the most vulnerable groups, the elderly and people with disabilities, in addition to data sharing and transparency, something that Frederico Venâncio recognized that the company “already does very often”, whether it be about security points, accidents and even about technology.
