Reliable Localization on Micro Mobility Platforms for Public Safety and By-law Compliance
Micro mobility is a rapidly advancing sector trying to tackle the “last mile” transportation problem. Major centers across the globe are seeing an expansion of dockless, lightweight, two-wheeled vehicles to alleviate gridlock on nearby streets, while also providing a convenient solution for the “last mile” problem. E-bikes and e-scooters are the most well-known and popular platforms used by ride-share rental organizations that fall in this class. Accurate localization and positioning is one of the main difficulties for this developing market in densely populated urban areas, and benefits numerous levels of the usership. This aids with many different aspects of the service including an enhanced consumer experience, and assisting service providers with maintenance, theft prevention and recovery. Governing bodies in the area can also use the data for infrastructure upkeep, bylaw compliance, and public safety. E-scooters and E-bikes may be obstructing pathways, blocking access to handicap areas or being used in an unsafe manner. Improving the accuracy of the localization and positioning will help combat all these problems. The current localization method is GNSS based, however, the main usage areas of these vehicles are in urban centers where GNSS does not work reliably due to multipath. The TDK Micro Mobility Library, now called RIDE, provides a reliable positioning and heading solution with absolute accuracy improvements over GNSS-only in any environment by integrating GNSS, inertial sensors, and digital map data. These vehicles experience lower speeds and higher motion dynamics than traditional four-wheeled platforms. The core of RIDE is a state estimation filter with special conditions and adjustments to optimize navigation models for two-wheeled vehicles. RIDE estimates smooth and accurate routes for regulatory compliance. It also provides information related to erratic vehicle motion and impact incidents.
