As the leading micro-mobility provider in Europe, TIER is continuously pioneering the innovation of safety enhancements in e-scooters. Studies from the World Health Organization(WHO) showed that most of the severe injuries sustained on e-scooters and bikes are caused by head trauma. The World Health Organization(WHO) deems the most effective preventive measure is the utilization of helmets. As such, the TIER Hardware Innovation team has prioritized the production of a brand new and innovative safety feature in the form of a smartbox with helmet recognition technology that has a foldable helmet inside it. The innovative smartbox is the first of its kind in this industry for mass roll out and has a patent pending.
The Smartbox Foldable Helmet
Users who want to wear a helmet would be able to unlock the smartbox then use the helmet at no additional cost directly through the TIER app. The foldable helmet is reusable and follows the European EN1078 standards and subject to quality control every 5 rides.
“I am extremely pleased with the TIER team that took on the challenge and discovered a permanent solution to integrate a helmet with the scooter. We’ve worked on this for several months and we are really excited to launch today. Safety for our users is our top priority and that we will still strive for improvement of our vehicles to make sure to be able to give our best for our users, the environment and also the cities where we operate in. We are going to share our solution and make it available to all or any other e-scooter sharing companies within the world”, explains Lawrence Leuschner, CEO of TIER Mobility.
TIER Electric Scooters Deployment Has Started
In the first phase in May, TIER will put 200 scooters containing the integrated helmet box into service in Berlin and in Paris with a wider roll out of more than 5000 e-scooters planned for summer.
In addition to this, the micro-mobility operator is testing a new technology for the anti-bacterial handlebar technology from Protexus, a German provider.
This innovative material made of copper fleece kills 99,9% of all viruses in barely a few minutes with its self disinfecting properties and is tested on TIER e-scooters in Bordeaux and Paris. This feature adds up to the catalogue of measures TIER had placed to keep their fleet safe and operational during the previous couple of months and in the future.
While other e-scooter suppliers had to withdraw their fleets from cities, TIER has been operating through the crisis with over forty thousand active e-scooters. TIER’s industry-leading operational setup, with a share of over 80 percent of the total fleet,has the biggest active fleet of e-scooters on changeable battery technology, fully in-house operations, and a classy system of refurbishment and repair, this has formed the inspiration to stay active and maintain profitability in times of low utilization.
“We are ready to quickly adapt and we are now focusing on the rise of demand driven by the shift to individual transportation in times of social distancing”, Leuschner said.
COVID-19 – The Shift to Individual Transportation
In order to adjust with the extended safety precautions TIER has implemented during the Covid-19 crisis (tier.app/covid19), disinfection protocol of the helmets will be required every 5 trips. Furthermore, each helmet box is provided with hair nets stored inside a hairnet compartment which is refilled each time when the battery of a scooter is swapped.
TIER Mobility is Europe’s leading provider in micro-mobility with a mission to change
mobility for the better.
The company is a game changer in the transport sector, which aims to significantly reduce vehicular traffic in cities by providing the people with a large range of electric vehicles.
As a part of its commitment to sustainability, the company has adopted the United Nations’ Sustainable Development Goals (SDG) as a guideline and has set a clear agenda for offsetting and reducing emissions. As a result of these measures, TIER Mobility has been a carbon-neutral company since January this year.
TIER Mobility operates in 9 countries and over 55 cities. The company is located in Berlin and has 450 people working there. The founders of the company are Julian Blessin, Lawrence Leuschner, and Matthias Laug.
