One step closer to self-driving scooters?

Rental e-scooters have become a common sight in cities around the world with users able to rent them via a smartphone app and park them at the end of their journey. Robin Strässer and David Meister at the University of Stuttgart and colleagues are working on an autonomous scooter that will minimise the manual labour required to recharge and redistribute them.
They have already demonstrated a balancing scooter that can be driven remotely by a human, and have now successfully shown that adding ultrasonic sensors allows it to automatically stop when faced with an obstacle.Currently the scooters can avoid collisions, but not plan a new route around obstacles. Future experiments will see cameras added and control software upgraded to give the scooter a better understanding of the landscape.
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[@codbug]

oh look, free scooter

[@chrisarmstrong8198]

How does it stay upright (especially when it's stationary) ? Also, if it's pushed over, it is an ex-scooter until someone stands it up again.

[@dimsim-youtube]

hello Skynet

[@OzGoober]

Can you picture single seat scootters? Just sit, swipe your phone and tell it where to go.

[@helenamcginty4920]

Good grief. Its bad enough having people driving them.

[@mho...]

wow normally im all for new tek, but this is just plain stupid!
i dont want these small things cruising around unsuperwised..... that like the Toaster connected to the internet, waste of sand & electrons!

[@donniewahlberg8546]

Absolutely useless waste of time.

[@pjdolont9012]

This is the worst idea ever.

[@DangerAmbrose]

A little late for April Fools.