Lime's new e-scooter will tell you where you can't park
Lime has some new wheels.
The company's Generation 3 e-scooter is more tech-savvy and sturdy than the last model. It's coming out in some cities next month and will roll out to every city Lime operates in (currently more than 100) in early 2019.
The new scooter has bigger wheels, a wider body, and a better suspension system and braking. But it's the 2.8-inch color screen that will hopefully help cities with its scooter problems, like blocked walkways and cluttered entryways to businesses.
The display shows your speed and battery capacity, but it can also share riding safety tips, like wear a helmet or only one person per scooter. (If only it could tell you not to hack your scooter to look like this or this.)
But here's what annoyed residents and businesses will really be happy about: the screen will use the scooter's GPS to tell riders where they can't park. Some cities have marked geo-fenced areas as no-parking zones. The new screens will make it clearer to riders when they’re setting scooters down where they’re not wanted.
Also, through sensors and GPS, Lime is working on using the screen to tell you it knows you're riding on the sidewalk instead of the street. It seems unlikely that'll do anything to detract from illegal sidewalk-riding, but it's worth a shot.
The screen could also one day be a navigation tool and customizable with your ride history and other info displayed.
The scooters also have a glowing LED neon light that shows battery level from afar: green for full, yellow if partially charged, and red for discharged. This is supposed to help Lime's independent contractors who charge the scooters (known as Juicers) to easily identify scooters that need some juice. And as a rider it'll let you know if you can get far on that motorized scooter or if it'll die on your way to the grocery store. Its bigger battery is supposed to have a 30-mile range. So get scooting.
Sasha is a news writer at Mashable's San Francisco office. She's an SF native who went to UC Davis and later received her master's from the UC Berkeley Graduate School of Journalism. She's been reporting out of her hometown over the years at Bay City News (news wire), SFGate (the San Francisco Chronicle website), and even made it out of California to write for the Chicago Tribune. She's been described as a bookworm and a gym rat.
