The company has created a new dedicated micro-mobility robotics division.
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| Uber Jump |
Uber is one of the technological companies that is working in the area of autonomous driving. It is known that the system in question will be applied to cars and, according to TechCrunch, also bicycles and scooters.
Despite the deadly crash in tests in the United States, Uber has once again tested its technology to have a fleet of autonomous cars at its distance. But these will not be their only vehicles capable of walking alone in city traffic. Its subsidiary, Jump, already has a bicycle sharing service, but they want to distinguish themselves from all competition services by being autonomous bicycles.
Apparently Uber has created a new division dedicated to micro-mobility applied robotics, which wants to study and explore various ways to improve aspects of its services of sharing of bicycles and scooters.
Uber unveiled these plans at a robotics conference where its research division, ATG, announced that it is integrating standalone vehicle technology into bicycles and scooters. The idea is not so much that bicycles ride alone while they are being used (one of the advantages of cycling is that you can do physical exercise during the ride), but that when they are left by the public after finishing the rental time, are able to move by themselves to the nearest recharging point or collection points with more customer demand. Currently bicycles have to be collected manually and transported in a van.
Although this may mean that Uber will soon offer these vehicles in standalone mode, it is also possible that the company simply wants to make them safer. It is possible that we are simply studying the integration of sensors that allow service users to use them in an easier way.
Now, Uber's ATG division has a specific division for Jump, MicroMobility Robotics. It has recently put up an ad looking for engineers who can improve customer safety and experience while making bike sharing more efficient. Having entered the market for bicycle sharing after more established brands such as Lime or Bird, Uber will be able to put Jump at a different price level, as autonomous bikes will save on transport costs and reduce the environmental footprint within the cities where they operate.
