Serviceplan drives inclusive mobility with Bolt

The project makes the resulting data publicly available, allowing city authorities, developers and navigation platforms to incorporate information about pavement conditions into accessible route planning.

Bolt has launched Wheels4Wheels, an initiative that uses data from its shared electric scooters to map street-surface quality and help improve wheelchair accessibility.

Launched in Tallinn, Estonia, the initiative repurposes sensors already installed in Bolt scooters to assess road and pavement surfaces. The project aims to address a gap in mainstream navigation services, which can identify obstacles such as steps but often lack information about whether a route includes smooth paving, cobblestones or other uneven surfaces.

Bolt uses scooter sensors to map surface quality

For wheelchair users, surface conditions can affect both mobility and physical wellbeing. The press release cites a 2013 study in which all participants experienced chronic pain associated with the vibrations caused by travelling over rough surfaces.

Wheels4Wheels uses accelerometers, gyroscopes, GPS receivers and cameras installed in Bolt scooters for vehicle safety and maintenance. Data collected during everyday journeys is analysed to assess surface quality and assign ratings on a five-point scale.

The approach uses existing mobility infrastructure to gather information without requiring a separate fleet of mapping vehicles. By making the resulting data available to other services, Bolt aims to help wheelchair users identify routes that better match their accessibility needs.

Tallinn pilot expands surface-quality data

The initial pilot in Tallinn covered all eight city districts, with Bolt scooters travelling 550 kilometres and recording 40.5 million accelerometer readings. The project generated 66,088 individual surface ratings, while manual mapping was carried out in parallel to validate the method.

According to Bolt, the pilot increased the availability of surface-quality information across Tallinn by 26 percent.

Hendra Raud, an accessibility advocate from Tallinn: "Being in a wheelchair trains you for the unexpected", said Hendra Raud. "Cobblestone makes your entire body ache, and getting stuck can mess up your entire schedule. You feel frustrated. So it’s a great feeling to finally have a map of the world the way we actually experience it."

Open data supports accessible navigation

Bolt intends to make the information available through OpenStreetMap, an open-source mapping database. The company says the data can be integrated automatically into applications that support surface-based routing, while developers can also use it to build accessibility features into their services.

The Wheels4Wheels data-processing pipeline has been released as open-source software under the MIT licence, allowing cities, developers and other organisations to access, run and adapt the technology.

Ardo Reinsalu, Director of Vehicles, Bolt: "Every year, our scooters cover millions of kilometers across hundreds of cities, registering every bump, slope, and uneven surface along the way. We have long shared that data with city partners to help improve roads and pavements for everyone. Wheels4Wheels takes that a step further by making the same information available directly to the people who need it most – without building a new app, but improving the maps they already use. This initiative changes how we think about scooters themselves, as something that goes beyond getting people around and actively helps make cities more accessible for everyone.”

Serviceplan supports mobility accessibility project

Serviceplan Group provided creative direction for Wheels4Wheels, which was developed with input from accessibility advocates and specialists to reflect the experiences of people with mobility impairments.

Alex Schill, Global Chief Creative Officer, Serviceplan: “Wheels4Wheels shows how an existing platform can be reimagined as civic infrastructure. What began as mobility data for fleet operations becomes a practical tool for inclusion, turning a familiar urban service into an open resource for more accessible cities. We’re very proud to support a matter that hopefully improves the daily live of thousands of people.”

Other contributors included Lucy Webster, a journalist for The Guardian and accessibility advocate, and Tom Rüütel, an accessibility adviser for people with mobility impairments. Technical development was handled by 1ar labs, with film production by We Make Them Wonder and B.east.

Bolt extends the role of shared mobility data

Bolt operates more than 230,000 scooters across over 270 cities worldwide, generating millions of data points daily. Wheels4Wheels builds on this existing infrastructure by making surface-quality information available beyond fleet operations.

The initiative positions shared mobility data as a potential resource for urban accessibility planning, giving cities and developers an additional way to identify uneven surfaces and improve the information available to people navigating streets in wheelchairs.

www.house-of-communication.com

www.bolt.eu

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