Beryl and Fujitsu are launching an exciting new research project, designed to improve the efficiency and sustainability of the Isle of Wight’s shared e-scooter scheme.
Using digital rehearsal technology known as Social Digital Twin, the project will aim to help the Beryl-operated scheme to increase vehicle availability at the most convenient spots, while reducing operational costs and carbon emissions.
Developed by global tech and business solutions firm, Fujitsu, the new technology combines behavioural economics models and AI, allowing for simulations that mirror the behaviour of people in the real world. The simulations can not only reproduce biased behaviours, including overestimation of losses, but also indirect factors such as weather.
This enables them to more accurately predict the impact of initiatives and incentives on people’s transport choices, such as offering discounted fees for users who return e-scooters to specific bays.
It will also be able to more accurately predict how changes to transportation will affect operating costs and contribute towards reducing Beryl’s overall carbon footprint.
Beryl’s Chief Technology Officer, Sacha Manson-Smith, said:
“We’re really excited to be working alongside an industry leader, using the latest simulation technology to help boost the efficiency of our schemes and significantly improve the user experience.
“Social Digital Twin will help Beryl to accurately predict how changes in human behaviour interact with evolving conditions in the environment, providing us with even higher levels of forecasting accuracy.
“We can use this extra knowledge to introduce scheme improvements that support our aim of encouraging as many people as possible to take up sustainable transport options.
Article continues below this advertisement “As a B-Corp registered company, we constantly monitor and evaluate our environmental impact and such accurate forecasting can also help us develop ways to further reduce it.”
Fujitsu Research’s Fellow and Head of Converging Technologies Laboratory, Daiki Masumoto, said:
“Fujitsu is committed to initiatives that build trust in society through innovation and our new ‘digital rehearsal’ technology is an example of how we can help better inform public policy and business planning.
“The trials on the Isle of Wight use digital rehearsal technology to test in advance the effects of people switching from cars to e-scooters. Our ultimate aim is to bring business benefits to Beryl, reduce the damaging environmental and social effects of car use, inform transport policy on the Isle and positively contribute to the Isle of Wight’s wider economy.
“In the future, Fujitsu plans to leverage the results of this project to support the sustainability transformation (SX) of mobility service providers and contribute to the realisation of a sustainable, fair, and diverse society through converging technologies that combine computer sciences with knowledge from the humanities and social sciences.”
This is part of wider initiatives which Fujitsu is taking as a Lead Technical Partner for National Digital Twin Programme, which aims to develop techniques to use Digital Twin models to benefit society, the economy, business and the environment, supported by HM Treasury. The programme is running a demonstrator work in Isle of Wight which is a fundamental element of the socio-technical change aspects of the programme.
The 1st test simulations using Social Digital Twin will be run on the Island in May, with a more comprehensive programme to follow over the Summer. The Island was chosen due to its geographically isolated location.
The model will use statistical data such as the population by area on the Isle of Wight and open data including weather data of the island, data on movement of people between specific areas of the island (including time of movements), as well as data on the movement of e-scooters provided by Beryl. It will not use personal data.
It still won’t stop idiots from misusing them. Take them off the streets altogether.
Cars are also often misused and way heavier hence more dangerous – just look at all the news we get about car accidents here.
So with that logic… take them [cars] off the street? 😉
(Just like rentals cars, each scooter is linked to a driving license when in use.)
How come underage kids use them?
Because someone legitimately hires them, then lets a kid ride them. Good way to lose your licence.
They get driving license from someone: “borrow” from parents, ask their friend and so on.
App doesn’t allow you to get a scooter without a driving license linked to your account because they are classified as EVs. Only bicycles are available without.
So any scooter ditched in the sea or parked on the tree and so on can be tracked to its last user and linked driving license.
If authorities require it, it can be tracked.
*classified as EVs with speed over Xmph that makes them licensable
You used the magic word ‘logic’! always gets thumbs down :)… some drivers don’t WANT to hear or see the truth that misused cars are indeed way more deadly!
The french rioters have found a use for the things, they burn really well, so they do their bit for the “enviroment”
I think that’s what island drivers need Artificial intelligence
What a load of gobbledegook nonsense. These dangerous miss-used pieces of junk should be scrapped. Just another council brown envelope scheme.
Never used one, never will. Scooters will never replace healthier alternatives such as walking, cycling and running. So please disappear.
What a complete load on nonsense, dreamed up by some fresh new graduate, no doubt… Oh, and remember the MASSIVE computer system failure by Fujitsu, who wrote the Horizon Post office system that caused hundreds of postmasters to be accused of fraud and some to be imprisoned or lose their houses.
Maybe the AI system will detect when someone is fraudulently using an E Scooter by a kid. Doesn’t happen, does it….
your better off in a big 4×4 on that island
Intelligence, artificial or not is not a word that should be used with e-scooter, anybody breaking the law on these contraptions should plead insanity
Well the AI is not working very well so far, numerous underage riding the scooters along with both scooters and bikes carrying passengers and constant missuse by riding on pavements and pedestrianised zones.
Mile and percentage wise they are involved in more accidents than cars. You don’t need a license only details, alot are using parents/grandparents and dead people.
ARTIFICIAL INTELLIGENCE all we need now is people riding them to have INTELLIGENCE
These scooters need crushing, they are an Health and Safety Hazard.
Does anyone know if Health and Safety actually exists on the Island,
from what I have seen it does not.