micromobility - Ebikes, scooters, longboards: Whatever floats your goat, this is micromobility
Ebikes, bicycles, scooters, skateboards, longboards, eboards, motorcycles, skates, unicycles: Whatever floats your goat, this is all things micromobility!
"Transportation using lightweight vehicles such as bicycles or scooters, especially electric ones that may be borrowed as part of a self-service rental program in which people rent vehicles for short-term use within a town or city.
micromobility is seen as a potential solution to moving people more efficiently around cities"
Feel free to also check out
It's a little sad that we need to actually say this, but:
Don't be an asshole or you will be permanently banned.
Respectful debate is totally OK, criticizing a product is fine, but being verbally abusive will not be tolerated.
Focus on discussing the idea, not attacking the person.
view the rest of the comments
There's been a number of posts here about e-motos, so I don't see a problem. Welcome!
IMO, AI is as much a buzzword as it is nebulous: the term previously was thrown around for AI designed products, where the only AI used was in the CAD software and not in the product. And now it seems to be used to mean "has added smarts". But it's not like stuff didn't already have features which would properly be termed "adaptive", which is what I think most of these so-called AI components on these motorbikes are.
If AI means network-connected, data harvesting frivolities, I agree that I wouldn't want it, whatever it's called. But if it means adaptive features to road or environmental conditions, that's more sensible.
There was a FortNine video recently -- I promise y'all I'm not shilling for them, even though I do link a lot of their videos -- about when (pre electric) motorbikes grew to be so capable that the rider is the limiting factor. This suggests that everything since then is having to grapple with the user's idiosyncrasies. In a very broad sense, adaptive technologies could potentially prevent rider errors while still keeping true to the two-wheel experience.
On the off-topic matter of AI public policy, I would like to see a GDPR or CCPA style regulation for built-in network connectivity for mobile devices, including automobiles and micromobility. In the same way EU and California residents can now opt-out of data collection on websites, I believe the same should apply for physical products. Often, there isn't a choice to extricate oneself from the data harvesting, or even just turn the networking device off, due to artificial limits imposed by the design.
Company-ending fines for data privacy violations, voluntary opt-in with no bundling to basic use-cases, and mandates for modular or removable/replaceable networking would go a long way. Heck, even just a removable SIM card slot would accomplish the latter goal and we've had that technology for decades.
/endrant
I like tech in motorcycles as long as it expands on the experience and doesn't try to control it. ABS, toggable traction control, power modes, etc all give the rider more control over their motorcycle and can tailor the settings to what they want.
Meanwhile, "AI" in motorcycles seems like a way for the motorcycle to do things the rider doesn't expect or want, or give lots of annoying warning sounds like the Vinfast VF8 (an awful car with terrible execution of the tech), all while harvesting data the rider was forced to agree to have sold to have the motorcycle move. (I don't have to sign a T&C on my GZ250!)
Now, I'm not knocking AI everywhere. The term gets thrown around way too much, but it can have genuinely useful features. I watched the Galaxy Unpacked event today and most of their new AI features have tangible benefits. Much better than "oH lOoK tWo MoRe CoLoRs FoR AlWaYs On DiSpLaY, pLs UpGrAdE [while the update secretly adds new tracking]"