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Maybe, but I'm pretty sure that the newest generation of Bird scooters are more difficult to hardwire. As far as I'm aware, nobody has done so yet, but most of
by ravenstine 7y ago
Maybe, but I'm pretty sure that the newest generation of Bird scooters are more difficult to hardwire. As far as I'm aware, nobody has done so yet, but most of them are still older generation and can be easily have their circuit boards replaced with ones for Xiaomi scooters(basically Bird scooters but without Bird's SIM card or GPS).
Vandalism is a far bigger problem for them, though, since most people don't have the skills(or rather the confidence) to hotwire a Bird scooter.
- asdff 7y agoI read the average life on these scooters is 30 days before they are completely wrecked. People don't need to hotwire them to take them; I've seen teenagers riding them while locked and just pushing them along un powered, scooter beeping away.
- ravenstine 7y agoThat's interesting, because I know that Lime's scooters have their front wheel locked when not in ride-mode. (though thieves can basically just lift up the front wheel and push it away on the back one) I had no idea kids were just pushing away Bird scooters! I guess it makes sense the Bird scooters don't lock because the Xiaomi scooters they use are cheaper than comparable ones made by Segway, which is what Lime uses. Bird probably just decided it wasn't worth deterring thieves, at least initially. I don't have much sympathy for these scooter companies, though, since their MO is to illegally dump scooters in cities and beg for forgiveness later. I've found no information at all on how the wrecked scooters get recycled. You can't necessarily just repair scooters infinitely, and I imagine a lot of them just go into a dumpster because it's cheaper just to buy more scooters from Xiaomi.
- Jommi 7y agoThis lifetime estimate is based on one town in the US. It can be wildly different in different markets.