Evaluating the Safety and Performance of Electric Micro-Mobility Vehicles: Comparing E-bike, E-scooter and Segway based on Objective and Subjective Data from a Field Experiment
Typ
Examensarbete för masterexamen
Program
Systems, control and mechatronics (MPSYS), MSc
Publicerad
2021
Författare
Billstein, Lucas
Svernlöv, Christoffer
Modellbyggare
Tidskriftstitel
ISSN
Volymtitel
Utgivare
Sammanfattning
The rapid increase in popularity of electric micro-mobility vehicles has led to an
increasing amount of injuries. A large proportion of injuries are related to the vehicles
themselves, therefore, a thorough investigation of their safety is needed. The
purpose of this thesis was to collect conclusive evidence for or against the safety level
of e-bikes, e-scooters and Segways in terms of stability, maneuverability and rider
comfort. A regular bike was used as well to compare with. Rider kinematics data
were recorded by sensors mounted on each of the vehicles together with a stationary
LIDAR sensor. Thirty-four voluntary participants performed four different tasks
with each of the vehicles. Afterwards, they filled in a questionnaire regarding the
experienced safety and performance of the vehicles. A set of performance indicators
were studied to be able to compare the vehicles and establish the safety of each
vehicle.
Results suggest that the e-bike and the e-scooter performed very well in terms of
rider comfort and stability. The e-scooter also had good maneuverability, but lacked
in safety due to bad braking performance. The least safe vehicle was the Segway
which was rated the least safe by the participants and performed the worst according
to the performance indicators in high speed scenarios. There were however scenarios
at low speed, with the Segway that had comparable results with the other vehicles.
Future studies could include other micro-mobility vehicles or other tasks. Experiments
in a more naturalistic settings could provide valuable data to extend the
results presented in this thesis. The results from this thesis could be used to help
improve the design of electric micro-mobility vehicles and contribute to guidelines
for infrastructure design and policy making.
Beskrivning
Ämne/nyckelord
safety , performance , micro-mobility , e-scooter , e-bike , Segway