Superpedestrian Acquires Navmatic and Unveils Breakthrough Safety System

Superpedestrian’s E-scooter safety breakthrough not only detects unsafe behaviors but puts a stop on them in real-time.

FREMONT, CA: Superpedestrian, the MIT spin-off engineering firm behind LINK, The Volvo of E-Scooters unveiled a breakthrough active safety system dubbed Pedestrian Defense. The new system doesn't just detect unsafe behaviors like riding on the sidewalk but puts a stop to them in real-time to prevent serious injuries. The safety breakthrough is made possible by acquiring Navmatic and applying their patented Super Fusion technology, which combines multiple sources of real-time vehicle dynamics data to yield the most accurate, practical, and reliable fleet positioning and vehicle control available today. Superpedestrian finalized the acquisition of Navmatic, a startup focused on micromobility safety, in June 2021.

Superpedestrian's new Pedestrian Defense capabilities will resolve deeply ingrained challenges in micromobility that have led many cities to restrict, sanction, and even ban shared e-scooters.

Pedestrian Defense is a unique system that makes Superpedestrian the only micromobility provider that can reliably detect and correct unsafe rider behavior in real-time and at scale across an entire fleet. By integrating Navmatics Super Fusion technology into Superpedestrians existing Vehicle Intelligence (VI) platform, Pedestrian Defense was born to ensure that unsafe behaviors like sidewalk riding, wrong-way riding, aggressive swerving, and repeated hard braking are detected, then immediately corrected by slowing or safely stopping the scooter. The new technology integration also allows Superpedestrian to translate sensor data into other interventions, from direct notifications and incentives for riders to comprehensive dashboards for policymakers that show safety trends and illustrate locations prone to unsafe behavior or increased chance of a crash.

“Superpedestrian has cracked the code to one of this industrys biggest challenges. Our e-scooter is unique because it has the computing power and sensors that Navmatics Super Fusion needs in order to operate in the field. Now, we can scale Pedestrian Defense across our entire fleet and offer riders and cities something no other company has: a real-time solution to aggressive and unlawful riding,” said Assaf Biderman, CEO of Superpedestrian.

“We’ve spent years at Navmatic developing the most fine-grained sensor fusion and rider behavior detection out there. With Superpedestrians high-quality hardware and smart system operation, we can detect how riders behave, make real-time interventions, and give cities actionable insight into the safety of their streets. This is what cities really need to solve the problems associated with e-scooters, and our team is the first and only one to achieve it. We are excited to join Superpedestrian, the technology-leading micromobility player. Only with Superpedestrian have we found the combination of a company that owns a leading sensing technology and that shares our passion to make cities safer,” said Boaz Mamo, CEO, and Founder of Navmatic.