Superpedestrian secures new funding for AI-based e-scooter safety software

Credit: Superpedestrian

Superpedestrian, the transportation robotics company and provider of the LINK e-scooter, has announced its largest-ever funding round, closing $125 million in debt and equity capital. The new funding will be used to expand the LINK shared e-scooter service, boost the company’s advanced R&D programmes and deploy scooters with Superpedestrian’s new Pedestrian Defense safety system in the first 25 cities across the U.S. and Europe throughout 2022.

The artificial intelligence (AI) based software fuses data from multiple vehicle sensors and integrates them with the scooter’s on-board Vehicle Intelligence, to take real-time action on the scooter. Pedestrian Defense exceeds all other safety platforms in three key ways, including:

• More precise detection of vehicle positioning, even in urban canyons where GPS has high inaccuracy
• Detecting a much wider array of unsafe riding behaviour, including sidewalk riding, stunt riding, aggressive swerving and ‘salmoning’ against traffic
• Intervening automatically to slow or stop a scooter in real time, when unsafe behaviour, like riding on a sidewalk, is detected.

Following successful field tests of Pedestrian Defense, the system will now be integrated into Superpedestrian’s LINK e-scooter fleet, which has been launched in 57 cities, logging tens of millions of miles.

“LINK is the only e-scooter available today with the technological capacity to run the Pedestrian Defense system. This funding will strengthen our position as a world-leader in the next generation of safety technologies that safeguard riders, communities and the environment,” said Jean Andrews, Policy Director of Superpedestrian for UK and Ireland.

“Over the past nine years, we have developed a unique software platform that addresses the core challenges of electric vehicle fleets. From predictive-maintenance and repair automation to fine-grain locationing and curb management, our platform is rich with advanced capabilities that enable safer and more reliable transportation solutions,” said Assaf Biderman, Founder and CEO of Superpedestrian.

Superpedestrian was spun out of MIT in 2013 with the mission to develop the world’s smartest and safest light electric vehicle fleets. In 2020, Superpedestrian debuted the LINK Scooter, heralded as ‘The Volvo of e-Scooters’ for its patented Vehicle Intelligence platform that actively prevents costly mechanical and electrical hazards that beset other e-scooter operators. Superpedestrian has become a world-leader in transportation robotics and human-scale mobility, holding over 40 patents in autonomous failure protection for vehicles, automated maintenance software, fleet optimisation and vehicle context awareness.