Next-gen Bird Three scooter comes with bigger battery and better software

Bird is rolling out a next-generation scooter with a bigger, longer-range battery and a diagnostic monitoring system to New York and Berlin this summer, as the micromobility startup seeks out ways to improve its margins and ultimately become profitable.

The Bird Three, which is already available in Tel Aviv, is designed to last longer and require less maintenance as well as improve comfort and safety for customers, according to the company. The launch comes just a week after Bird announced a merger with special-purpose acquisition company Switchback II. The regulatory filings that accompanied the announcement demonstrated just how difficult it is to turn a profit given the unit economics of shared scooters.

The cost of building and servicing vehicles is one of the biggest barriers to profitability, which explains why Bird has invested in developing a scooter with a longer-lasting vehicle and battery as well as the software needed to monitor the device’s health.

Bird writes its own proprietary operating system, called Bird OS, as well as its motor controller IoT system, according to Scott Rushforth, Bird’s chief vehicle officer. The self-diagnostics system allows the battery to communicate with the backend and internally within the connected vehicle network. That means if, for example, the machine gets too warm, it’ll send the server an alert and will also automatically correct itself by riding at a slower speed to keep cool.

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