The Consumer Electronics Show (CES) 2019 witnessed the debut of Segway-Ninebot’s first ever autonomous delivery robot Loomo Delivery, designed to perform the final leg like of transporting packages.
Loomo Delivery is an autonomous vehicle for last-mile deliveries. The idea is to use the bot to make autonomous deliveries for food, packages and other items. Segway-Ninebot’s Loomo Delivery bot leaves the realm of riding entirely. Built like a mailbox on wheels, Loomo Delivery uses AI to bring parcels to their final destination. Segway-Ninebot envisions the little bot delivering parcels in office buildings or malls. The small bot has a built-in camera for viewing its surroundings and relies upon proprietary algorithms to navigate and keep from slamming into walls or any obstructions in its path.
Though it is still in the budding stage, Loomo Delivery bot might be the next big step in autonomous delivery segment in the near future.
Segway-Ninebot also unveiled Model Max- its next generation of shared scooter designed to get people around the city. Segway-Ninebot’s Model Max scooter, is designed to help services like Bird and Lime, for example in reducing their respective operating and maintenance costs.
Addressing the issue of wear and tear in the realm of electric scooters that leads to a shorter lifespan of individual scooters and poor unit economics, Segway said in its press release that, “Model Max was designed taking into consideration complex shared usage scenarios, consumer overuse of vehicles, operation models and maintenance costs; at the same time, Segway-Ninebot is also more open to accept the customized needs of various operators to meet the different needs of users and customers in each market.”
The Model Max, it’s promising the gen-next “top of the line vehicle” for travelling in urban environments will be more weather resistant, more reliable and safer than previous models -a nice assurance after scooter sharing firm Lime recalled thousands of Segway scooters believed to be at risk of bursting into flames while charging. In August, Lime says it became aware of a potential issue with some of its Segway-Ninebot scooters. Specifically, Lime identified a problem with one of the two batteries in some of its earlier scooter versions.
Bird, which also uses Ninebot scooters, said it conducted an investigation and found that none of the vehicles it purchased from Segway-Ninebot were affected. At the CES however, Segway did not divulge any more details about the recalling of its scooters but reiterated that it aims to provide a better, safer and cheaper rides.