Taking remote-piloted e-scooters from approval to the street

World-first remote piloting technology at scale

The challenge

Badly parked e-scooters are one of the most common complaints councils hear. Remote piloting lets a trained operator move an empty scooter to a proper parking spot from a control room, without sending a crew. But Australian rules were written for scooters that only move with a rider on board, and the cameras and sensors that make remote piloting safe add weight that some states' device limits did not allow for.

What Adam did

Adam led the regulatory case state by state, briefing transport agencies and ministers' offices in five jurisdictions, including Queensland, South Australia and Western Australia, and arranging live demonstrations for officials. He took the service through local government approval, from a council pilot in Townsville and on Magnetic Island starting in November 2024 to a five-year permit from July 2025. The safety case was built from the operating model: remote pilots move an empty scooter at walking pace, under camera supervision, with hazard lights on and an AI co-pilot that stops the scooter for any obstacle. He then wrote remote piloting into a capital-city permit tender, setting out how it would run, what approvals were still needed, and the measured basis behind every claim.

The result

Remote piloting moved from a new idea to an approved part of a city-scale e-scooter service, with state agencies seeing it work first hand. Councils get a faster way to clear footpaths without adding vehicles or crews to the street.