A Bird scooter knocked over on a sidewalk in Oakland, California. A new startup, Tortoise, wants to help scooter systems perform better with technology that would autonomously reposition vehicles. | Shutterstock

Tortoise believes its tech can help reposition scooters and make micromobility more efficient A new startup, Tortoise, believes that combining two of the latest trends in transportation technology, electric scooters and autonomous vehicles, can create a more efficient, sustainable transit option.
Founder and president Dmitry Shevelenko, a former Uber employee, says Tortoise doesn?t want to be a new operator, it simply wants to be a technology partner making other scooter systems better. With the ability to move scooters without human operators?which require more vehicle traffic, carbon emissions, as well as hourly wages?Tortoise?s technology can move scooters that are obstructing sidewalks or driveways to city-approved parking spots, public transit hubs, even someone?s front doorstep. Big operators, such as Bird, have said that the challenges of unit economic, including costly repositioning, are a significant focus going forward. Shevelenko, who helped Uber expand into new modes of transportation such as Jump Bikes and the public ticketing system Masabi, believes that this kind of retrieval and repositioning solution is a missing piece to making micromobility more reliable, easy to access, and ultimately successful.
?We feel an existential need to make this...