Last Week I Learned: Lime Scooters

While in Wrocław, Poland last week I had my first experience with an electric 'scooter' service where you download an app, scan a QR code, and rent a scooter on time-metered terms. Not having a helmet, I hedged towards the slow side of the speed range of this vehicle, and only rode it in a wide open square (late at night) to avoid injuring any poor bystanders.

It was a delightful experience - from first locating a scooter on a map, sending a 'ping' request so that the scooter would make itself easier to locate as you got closer, to riding around, and ultimately parking. When you park, you have to take a picture of the final place. However, as one of my colleagues pointed out, you never actually can reference your own picture or others' pictures when searching for a scooter. However in the Lime app, there is a 'game' where you can judge the parking excellence of others. It was suggested to me, and I agree, that this is probably around some AI training so that the application can suggest better parking guidance when someone finishes a ride (i.e. to not block an ADA accessible ramp, for example).