6 ms·
Of the scooter companies that have launched in the Bay area, Spin were by far the least technically advanced - the scooters were basically unmodified Xiaomis, t
by mjg59 8y ago
Of the scooter companies that have launched in the Bay area, Spin were by far the least technically advanced - the scooters were basically unmodified Xiaomis, to the extent of still having power buttons. Rather than an integrated location and management system, location data came from a off-the-shelf GPS tracker spliced off the battery lines. Since the scooter control board had no cellular link, there was no mechanism for Spin to directly manage the scooters which meant that handshaking involved the app notifying Spin's API that the user was going to hire a scooter and then sending an unlock code back to the scooter via Bluetooth. Locking was the inverse, which left plenty of opportunity for state to get out of sync (server thinks scooter is unlocked but the unlocking failed, or vice versa).
It's possible that their launch was very much an MVP and they've been doing a lot of engineering work in the background, but they were way behind Lime and Bird at launch time.
(Edited to clarify that the unlock code is sent via Bluetooth)
- rootsudo 8y agoIs the unlock code unique, or the same for that specific bluetooth serial number?
- mjg59 8y agoThis is an excellent question that I am going to decline to answer.
- Relys 8y agoeScooterKeyGen.exe lol ;p
- WrtCdEvrydy 8y agoYou joke, but there are android apps that will bruteforce the admin password on the current router you're connected to using the standard admin logins for each manufacturer.
- baybal2 8y agoIf Spin is indeed just a rebadged Liubike (which itself is a rebadged Xiaomi (which itself is rebadged Aima in custom bodywork,)) then it will be md5 + counter
- type-2 8y agowait a minute. So who's the actual manufacturer? I went to aimatech.net but I could not find the kickscooter among their products.
- baybal2 8y agoThe original chassis is definitely made on Aima's factories for sure. There are tons of kickscooters similar to Xiaomi's, and different only in bodywork, and it's rumoured that OEM is Aima. This is true for a lion share of all scooter sharing companies. Liubike is a scooter sharing company from Zhejiang. They originally developed a sharing solution based on Xiaomi kick scooters, but later switched to proper electric mopeds. Liubike, then resold the OEM "platform solution" to other companies, but still runs an own sharing business in smaller towns in Zhejiang.
- deleted 8y ago[deleted]
- alwaysreading 8y agoI'm pretty sure these are the scooters that Spin uses: https://amzn.to/2JRji76 https://amzn.to/2JRji76
- ativzzz 8y agoLooks like Spin used their resources on business development instead of tech and it appears their plan worked.
- docbrown 8y agoI think this sums it up with some loose ends. Freep at the Detroit Auto Show: [1] >Bill Ford said the company sees an opportunity to build on its legacy and provide leadership in the rapidly changing mobility industry. Electrification is where the company is headed, he said. >Unlike other companies, Ford wants to build on customer loyalty for established best sellers rather than try to market new brands that happen to be electric because it will speed up customer acceptance, Ford said. But. Spin must still have //some// sort of technical knowledge Ford wants because they’re investing $11b into electrification vehicles with a product launch in 2020 and a lineup of 40 electrified and hybrid vehicles by 2022. [2] —— [1]: https://www.freep.com/story/money/cars/detroit-auto-show/2018/01/14/ford-promises-11-billion-investment-electrification/1032970001/ https://www.freep.com/story/money/cars/detroit-auto-show/201... [2]: https://www.reuters.com/article/us-autoshow-detroit-ford-motor/ford-plans-11-billion-investment-40-electric-vehicles-by-2022-idUSKBN1F30YZ https://www.reuters.com/article/us-autoshow-detroit-ford-mot...
- dzhiurgis 8y agoWas thinking about locking mechanism for scooters and thought perhaps ultrasonic signal could make this even simpler over Bluetooth. Of course in this case the problem is lack of feedback from scooter on lock state.
- mjg59 8y agoI'm not sure why you'd prefer ultrasonic over bluetooth - the hardware already has bluetooth (the consumer Xiaomis link to an app for various statistics and control functions), you can explicitly target the signal (it's typical for a bunch of these to be sitting near each other), you don't need to mess with the user's volume settings and you get bidirectional communication.