Self-Driving Scooter for the Elderly and Mobility Impaired
The quest to develop driverless vehicles that will transport people autonomously have led to interesting spin-off projects as researchers in Singapore developed a self-driving mobility scooter that drives pedestrians along narrow pathways. Who will benefit most from this driverless technology? The elderly and the mobility impaired.
The one-seater four wheel scooter that weighs about 50 kg travels at a top speed of 6 kmh uses LiDAR sensors to help navigate around obstacles.
This is the city-state’s latest experiment with driverless vehicles, a collaboration between the Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT), Singapore-MIT Alliance for Research and Technology (SMART) and developed by National University of Singapore (NUS), to help improve public transportation efficiency, improve mobility for all ages, cut down on the need for cars and also lower accident rates, according to Reuters.
NUS Associate Professor and project leader Marcelo Ang Jr said that the scooter would be able to work in tandem with other driverless vehicles in Singapore, where robo-taxis are being tested and trials are planned for self-driving buses. Apart from providing first mile, last mile transportation solution, the self-driving scooter will be a welcoming sight for airports, shopping malls, hospitals and residential areas to help those who are in need.
Find out more about Singapore’s Autonomous Vehicles Initiatives (SAVI), SMRT Last-mile connectivity case study and Mobility as a Service via Autonomous Vehicles at Autonomous Vehicles Asia 2017 Conference.
