In partnership with Drover AI, Beam is rolling out its Pedestrian Shield footpath detection and speed-limiting technology in Victoria, Australia.
Throughout this project, a fleet of 150 e-scooters in the City of Melton will be fitted with the Pedestrian Shield technology.
Powered by Drover AI’s PathPilot, Pedestrian Shield can detect city infrastructure such as roads, bike lanes or footpaths in real-time using an onboard camera.
It will be used to detect and correct illegal footpath riding by automatically slowing the vehicle and sounding verbal warnings, as well as alerting Beam to illegal riding behaviour.
Drover CEO Christian Scheder-Bieschin said:We’re thrilled to be working with Beam to bring Drover’s industry-leading AI-powered computer vision technology to Australia and New Zealand.
Helping riders comply with riding and parking regulations makes everyone safer and provides a more orderly program. Equally exciting for all stakeholders are the granular insights on rider behaviour and infrastructure usage that will be revealed throughout these deployments of Drover technology.
This deployment will use a three-group testing approach to determine how best to influence e-scooter rider behaviour.
50 of the e-scooters will be integrated with full Pedestrian Shield technology, featuring both audio alerts and real-time speed adjustments. Meanwhile, an additional 50 will be integrated with partial Pedestrian Shield technology, delivering only audio alerts.
The final 50 e-scooters will serve as the control group, with the technology detecting riders on different road surfaces but delivering no real-time feedback.
Throughout the trial, the companies will gather empirical data on the effectiveness of real-time rider feedback to improve rider compliance.
The data will also inform policymakers on the interaction between micromobility and other road users to provide insights into infrastructure improvements that can support active travel.
Beam General Manager (ANZ) Tom Cooper said:Through this trial, we aim to highlight the impact of our advanced rider enforcement technology and determine the best approach to positively influence rider behaviour when on an e-scooter.
With different states in Australia having different legislation governing e-rideables, Beam’s Pedestrian Shield is able to adapt to the different riding rules in each state - whether that is to enforce lower speeds on footpaths or stopping the Beam altogether. The trial will help us understand the best combination of real-time rider prompts and trip intervention to support safe e-scooter use.
