Ario has launched its three-wheeled, self-driving e-scooters in West Auckland, and is aiming for citywide rollout later this year. Video | Michael Craig
It’s the bane of a modern pedestrian’s life: rental e-scooters parked in the middle of the footpath.
New Auckland operator Ario has a response: It’s e-scooters have three wheels, meaning they’re freestanding and self-stabilising (there’s no kickstand).
When you park an Ario, it uses sensors and cameras to send a 360-degree image to a person working in the firm’s central Auckland warehouse.
If it’s parked inappropriately, an Ario staffer can take remote control of the scooter - accessing views from its front and rear cameras - and remotely guide it to a safe park. In a demo for the Herald (see video above), the technology worked smoothly.
Ario's three-wheeled design means its e-scooters are freestanding. There's no kickstand. It enables the firm's remotely-controlled parking, and is pitched as safer to ride with fewer spills. Photo / Michael Craig
Although a human sitting in an office does the remote parking, sensors - inevitability billed as AI - will stop the scooter if they sense a person or object in its path. It’s billed as a “co-pilot” function.
“We can’t order one to come to you, but we have that capability,” Ario NZ general manager Adam Muirson says.
It’s possible that feature will be added in future.
For now, the firm is concentrating on the more straightforward remote-parking, which often involves only moving a scooter a few metres.
'We can’t order one to come to you, but we have that capability,' Ario NZ general manager Adam Muirson says. Photo / Michael Craig
The model of staffers in a warehouse remote-parking sounds labour-intensive. Muirson says it will be more efficient than sending someone across town to physically shift a scooter.
The three-wheel design and self-stabilising technology also makes the Ario scooters safer to ride, Muirson says.
He also expects that stability to bring older people and those with disabilities into the fold.
Like rivals Lime and Beam, there’s also a seated model.
In a brief test ride, the Herald found the seated version had far better balance than the rivals, thanks to the three-wheel design (the lower position can throw your centre of gravity and balance out of whack on a two-wheeler).
Muirson hopes the more stable three-wheel design will bring older and riders and those with disabilities into the fold. Photo / Michael Craig
The self-stabilisation should mean less wear-and-tear, longer life and fewer of those infamous “scooter graveyard” pics.
It also means while they’re harder to tip.
In the clip, Muirson gives an Ario a good shove in the video above.
It wobbles to a 35 degree angle then self-stabilises. There’s nothing to stop a hooligan kicking one over, but accidental tips or high-wind shouldn’t, Muirson says.
What one of Ario's staff sees when they take remote-control of a scooter from the firm's Karangahape Rd warehouse. Front and rear cameras, and 360-degree depth sensors, are used to avoid collisions. An AI can over-ride the human operator to avoid a prang.
Muirson says they’re tilted downward to protect privacy, and for the practical purpose of detecting the surface you’re riding on - which could result in the scooter being automatically slowed.
Footage could be handed over to authorities in the event of vandalism, Muirson says. If nothing went wrong, it will be deleted after 30 days.
Ario scored a four-month outer suburbs licence. It's preparing an application for a city-wide deployment from November. Photo / Michael Craig.
The firm has just been granted a council licence for 150 scooters, which will cost $1 to unlock then 49 cents per minute - in line with incumbents Beam and Lime.
Ario, the first operator to get an outer suburbs licence, is currently concentrating on West Auckland.
The firm will apply for a full city licence for the next licencing period, which begins on November 3.
Lime (which counts Uber as its largest investor) and Singapore-owned Beam can each operate 450, or a total of 900 in the city centre, and 1200 e-scooters each.
That’s a total of 2400 citywide, down from the pre-Covid regulated limited of 3200.
Like the incumbents, Ario is subject to a 25km/h speed limit and a 15km/h, GPS-enforced limit in crowded areas.
Chris Keall is an Auckland-based member of the Herald’s business team. He joined the Herald in 2018 and is the technology editor and a senior business writer.
