After self-driving car, Uber is reportedly working on autonomous bikes, e-scooters

tech2 News StaffJan 22, 2019 16:15:49 IST

Are you ready for the future? Because Uber looks set to embrace it. After self-driving cars, Uber has reportedly started work on autonomous bikes and electric scooters that will drive themselves to stands and charging points.

This information was first shared by 3D Robotics' Chris Anderson (via TechCrunch), who said that at a DIY Robotics event, Uber announced a new Micromobility Robotics division, which will live inside Uber's Jump group, that looks after shared electric bikes and scooters.

Exciting announcement from @UberATG at today's @DIYRobocars event. "Micromobility" = autononomous scooters & bikes that can drive themselves to charging or better locations. Hiring now pic.twitter.com/sOjroo8XZI

— Chris Anderson (@chr1sa) January 20, 2019

I'm told that this team will actually live in Uber's @jump_rides group. @UberATG will continue to focus on self-driving cars

— Chris Anderson (@chr1sa) January 20, 2019

This report is followed by another one by The Telegraph, which says that Uber has even begun hiring for this new team.

Uber’s ATG recently also posted a Google Form looking to hire people for the same. The post reads, "The New Mobilities team at Uber is exploring ways to improve safety, rider experience, and operational efficiency of our shared electric scooters and bicycles through the application of sensing and robotics technologies”.

In April last year, Uber acquired Jump, which is a bike and scooter rental company. In December 2018, Uber officially announced these bikes, but with 4G support, self-diagnostic capabilities and swappable batteries. And now, since they had already expanded their footprint to books and scooters, the next logical step was to make them smarter.