E-scooters are a fun way to get around, but not all experiences are good ones. Unfortunately, there are far too many riders that don’t do the right thing and end up leaving scooters in undesirable locations. While there’s certainly the opportunity to fine those who do the wrong thing, there’s also an option to offer education and incentives for people to do the right thing.
E-mobility company Neuron Mobility has launched its new Augmented Reality (AR) Parking Assistant in Australia. The new feature will further improve parking compliance in select cities with Neuron’s designated parking model which only allows e-scooter trips to end at one of the hundreds of convenient parking stations located across the service area.
Powered by Google’s ARCore Visual Positioning System (VPS), the AR Parking Assistant will complement the use of GPS to more accurately locate Neuron vehicles so they are parked precisely within one of the parking stations.
When AR Parking Assistant is activated, riders will be prompted to scan their surroundings using their mobile phone camera through the Neuron app.
Distinguishing landmarks such as street signs or buildings, the scanned images will be compared against Google’s Street View database to determine a precise location.
Once the location check has been completed, riders who are not within a parking station will be directed to one nearby before the trip can end.
The system works with Neuron’s end-of-trip photo feature which requires a rider to photograph and upload an image of their e-scooter to ensure the vehicle is parked upright and in the correct manner.
We’re delighted to offer a better end-of-trip experience. Overwhelmingly riders want to park our e-scooters in the right location and the new AR Parking Assistant feature helps them park precisely in one of the many parking stations located throughout the city.
Richard Hannah, Head of Australia New Zealand at Neuron Mobility
The new parking feature will complement the designated parking model we introduced in Western Australian cities of Busselton and Perth in March this year. We’ve also been trialling the technology in high foot traffic areas in Melbourne and Brisbane with fantastic results.
Neuron conducted user testing of the AR Parking Assistant in early 2023 in a number of cities worldwide, including Newcastle in the UK, and Melbourne and Brisbane in Australia. AR Parking Assistant is currently available in metro Perth operations Perth CBD and City of Stirling, Busselton and select areas of Melbourne and Brisbane, as well as Newcastle in the UK.
The system has been well received by riders and Neuron is seeing over 95% parking compliance in cities where the technology has been introduced. Neuron plans to expand its technology to more cities with designated parking throughout 2023.
For more information, visit: https://rideneuron.com
