Scooter Safety

Interviews with regular Voi users surfaced why almost nobody wears a helmet on shared e-scooters: it's inconvenient, it messes up hair, it breaks social norms, and users already default to carrying a bag or backpack on these trips anyway. Meanwhile, crash-test footage of head-on collisions shows riders are thrown forward face- and head-first into the vehicle's hood or windshield, the most severe injury zone. The adjusted goal: create a safety device that is minimally intrusive to the user's existing experience, but protects the head and face in a head-on collision.

Looked at two existing mechanical references: automotive pedestrian-protection airbags (deployed from a car's hood on impact) and backcountry avalanche airbag backpacks, which share the same core mechanism: a helium-cartridge inflator, sensor and electronics, battery, and an auto-tensioning strap/arming system. Built a working proof-of-concept of that inflate mechanism (helium cartridge, inflate valve, sensor/electronics puck, auto-tensioning strap, arming switch) and prototyped an airbag shape that unfolds up and over the head and shoulder. Explored where the strap should sit on the body (sling, X-back, X-front, and H-back configurations), benchmarking against how people already wear crossbody bags and fanny packs in streetwear/fashion photography, and settled on a single diagonal sling strap since that's already a completely normal way to carry a bag. Also explored an alternative helmet-form direction early on (including a rough foam/aluminum-can prototype) before committing to the wearable-airbag direction. Branded the device "Oi!" as a playful Voi sub-brand, printing cheeky Scandinavian/German exclamations on the shell ("oi shit!", "oisann!", "oida...") to keep the tone light rather than clinical-safety.

The result is a red, oblong crossbody pack worn sling-style over one shoulder, sized and shaped like a bag riders would carry anyway. Inside: a helium-cartridge inflator, sensor and electronics, battery, and an auto-tensioning strap with an arming switch. In a head-on collision it inflates an airbag that unfolds up over the rider's head, face, and chest, meeting the "minimally intrusive" brief by disguising a safety device as an accessory riders already wear.