Voi UK partners with Lazarillo accessibility app

Lazarillo is a leading light in facilitating smart cities and also in making a social impact. We are delighted, therefore, to announce our partnership with them, one which we believe to be a major step on Voi’s roadmap to inclusive micromobility. The aim of Lazarillo’s app is to improve urban accessibility for blind and visually-impaired people, so that they can navigate our busy streets safely and confidently.

Smart tech companies chatting

By integrating our API with Lazarillo’s app, their subscribers, of which there are over a quarter of a million globally, will be able to receive real-time voice messages on where Voi scooters are parked, so that they don’t risk colliding with any of them. In addition, Lazarillo’s subscribers can report any poorly parked scooter directly to us using an ‘alert’ facility in the app. Smart tech companies talking to each other like this – now that’s the future in creating better cities for living.

René Espinoza Jimenez, Founder & CEO of Lazarillo said: “Our integration with Voi intends to provide new information to our users as well as a new accessible tool for reporting. This work is quite new, and we hope that the integration will allow people with disabilities to feel more empowered as we work toward smarter and more accessible cities together.”

UK cities to benefit from Lazarillo and Voi partnership

This information on Lazarillo’s app about the presence of Voi on our streets, is currently available in Bristol, Liverpool and Birmingham, with more towns and cities in the UK to be added in the future. The app is available for free on iOS and Android. As our number one priority is the safety of all road users, particularly those who are vulnerable, we are proud to be raising safety standards across the industry and delighted to be collaborating with Lazarillo in our commitment to inclusivity as well as striving towards Vision Zero.

Voi’s inclusivity initiatives

Responsible parking is one of our main safety pillars at Voi, which we actively promote by various means, such as the mandatory use of a Parking Photo which riders must submit in order to complete their ride. This collaboration with Lazarillo builds on other pioneering initiatives, such as the deployment of visually distinctive parking racks co-designed with the Royal National Institute of Blind People, the launch of e-scooter sound pilots and the trial of AI computer vision technology designed to detect and prevent pavement riding.

We have also worked in close collaboration with leading sight loss charity, Thomas Pocklington Trust, whose National Public Affairs Lead, Mike Bell, supported us on our journey to partner with Lazarillo, commenting: “We’re pleased that Voi is listening to the concerns of blind and partially sighted people around e-scooter use. The partnership with Lazarillo will help to deliver a safer experience for visually-impaired pedestrians and raise awareness of the crucial importance of safe parking and use of e-scooters.”