Bird’s New Skid Detection Elevates E-Scooter Safety, Rider Compliance

When it comes to safe, compliant e-scooter riding, skidding tires are something you want to avoid. They can be attributed to several causes, none of them particularly good. These include:

  • Hazardous riding behavior
  • Excessive braking force
  • Worn tires or tire tread


To help proactively alert our operations teams to any of these potential issues, the engineers at Bird have developed something remarkable: the micromobility industry’s first Skid Detection system. 

The underlying technology behind Skid Detection uses Bird’s state-of-the-art vehicle diagnostics and sensor processing capabilities, combined with an in-depth understanding of tire physics, to determine if a skid has occurred. If a rider is either experiencing or performing an uncharacteristic amount of skids, the system sends an alert to our backend enabling quick responsive action.

“Skid Detection is an important safety and compliance feature that has the potential to deliver significant security benefits to both riders and communities,” said Ryan Fujiu, Chief Product Officer at Bird. “By identifying vehicles in need of tire inspection early, as well as anyone who may be riding in an inappropriate manner, we can rapidly troubleshoot and resolve these issues before they become more serious problems.” 

Excessive skidding that’s determined to be caused by poor behavior will trigger a series of rider communications detailing the dangers of intentional excessive braking. If necessary, Bird can revoke riding access to ensure community safety is respected. Skidding related to worn tire treads, on the other hand, will activate a service inspection by our operations team.

Our Skid Detection system is the latest enhancement to make use of Bird’s industry leading vehicle diagnostics. Each of our Bird Two vehicles is equipped with up to 200 sensory inputs performing millions of fault checks per day, enabling our engineering team to develop security measures that are not possible with off-the-shelf vehicles.

Other recent safety innovations include:


To learn more about how Bird is working to keep riders and communities safe, subscribe to the Bird Cities Blog.