Oct 16, 2023
Our newest AI parking verification feature, ParkAssist+, helps to ensure that scooters are parked correctly.
It analyses a user’s end-of-ride picture and prevents them from finishing a ride in case of bad parking.*
We’re gradually rolling out the feature across our micromobility markets with and without mandatory parking spots. And we’re excited to share the first results.
We’ll talk about the exact numbers in a moment. But first, let’s try to understand if poor scooter parking is still an issue.
*In applicable markets
The short answer is: it depends.
The long answer is that public perception of scooter misparking largely echoes the media narrative, so concerns around micromobility parking remain high.
However, our internal data shows a low rate of user misparking (1.4 %). It also demonstrates that insufficient knowledge about parking regulations is a key reason for misparked scooters.
In 2022, we surveyed people in 23 European cities across 3 countries to understand whether poor scooter parking remains an issue.
Similar to what we’ve observed, the survey revealed a clear improvement in scooter parking practices.
To accelerate this improvement, we implemented Bolt’s comprehensive Smart Parking 360 system, built on 5 core pillars explained below:
ParkAssist+ falls under the technical innovations pillar. And we’re now going to see how it works.
For many, photographing a parked scooter after a ride has become an integral part of the scooter riding experience. But you may not know what happens to these photos afterwards.
Previously, our operators analysed these photos and assessed parking quality. But AI’s now taken over.
It’s based on our internal machine learning algorithm and has been trained on 150,000 photos of parked scooters to distinguish between proper and improper parking.
In countries where it’s enabled, ParkAssist+ successfully recognises 99.9% of end-of-ride photos and gives users instant feedback on how they parked.
In case of poor parking, a rider receives in-app guidelines on re-parking correctly.
With this feature, users can only finish their ride after providing a picture of a scooter/e-bike parked per local regulations.*
*In applicable markets
/Screenshots of ParkAssist+ feature/
The Brussels-Capital Region Government strives for more organised shared scooter parking and aims to install around 3,000 parking spaces (drop-off zones) for electric scooters in 2023.
Scooter users in Brussels must park at designated drop-off zones.
To check whether Bolt scooters are compliant with local rules, we sought the expertise of Bureau Veritas.
In September 2023, Bureau Veritas auditors assessed the level of parking compliance of Bolt e-scooters on the Place Eugénie Flagey — where micromobility parking causes the most issues.
Simply put, they checked if our scooters were parked upright and in designated parking areas.
The audit’s results showed that with the help of ParkAssist+, Bolt users parked scooters correctly 97.2% of the time.
During the assessment, Bureau Veritas confirmed that ParkAssist+ successfully recognised good and bad parking practices and prevented users from ending rides in case of the latter.
ParkAssist+ is, therefore, a tool and a solution. Beyond differentiating between correct and incorrect parking, it guarantees responsible scooter usage and, consequently, more organised public spaces.
To learn more about solutions for better public spaces, head to our blog.
