Mapbox Zone Avoidance Routing is now in private preview — empowering developers to manage custom zone data for routing and visualization to support navigation with precision and ensure compliance. Now, urban mobility, on-demand delivery, and fleet management companies can adhere to regulations, optimize routes, and promote safety.

Innovative vehicles require innovative solutions for a new regulatory environment

Four wheels, two wheels, three wheels, and even one wheel! The micromobility trend is exploding, with usage having increased 35-fold from 2010, sparking new products that range from scooters and unicycles to kits that convert pedal-powered bicycles to electric two-wheelers. Local governments are implementing policies and regulations to achieve sustainability goals, driving micromobility use. Industries are being required to adapt and embrace these new changes. 

Unfortunately with new vehicle types comes new safety challenges. Data from a Consumer Product Safety Commission report indicated that injuries from e-bikes and e-scooters increased by nearly 21% in 2022 from 2021. Regulators are still grappling with how to best enact policies that ensure riders of these new innovative vehicles stay safe. Common local regulations such as established no-go zone areas require users to avoid high foot traffic/pedestrian dense areas or high collision risk areas. For electric scooters in the U.S. alone, compliance is customized at the state level all the way down to local city regulations, creating a series of complex regulatory hurdles to navigate. In 2022, $2.1 million of fines were issued to shared micromobillity riders in San Francisco alone.

Negative experiences, such as accidents, cluttered sidewalks, and conflicts with other road users have led to backlash and resistance from local communities, putting urban mobility and on-demand logistics micromobility drivers at risk of being able to operate in some cities. Voi, a micromobility sharing platform, uses Mapbox’s Zone Avoidance Routing feature to keep their riders safe and compliant across 100 European cities.

Regulatory costs for on demand logistics can make or break your business. Mapbox’s Zone Avoidance Routing enables our customers to reduce compliance overhead to focus attention on operational efficiency and revenue growth opportunities.” -Garrett Miller Global VP of Customer Engagement

Zone Avoidance Routing for fleet longevity and driver safety

Micromobility vehicles are not the only vehicle types experiencing a renaissance of innovation. New electric vehicles designed specifically for last mile deliveries are also exploding across metropolitan areas. Picnic, a Mapbox customer, who delivers in 200 plus cities in Europe, uses Groupil vehicles in their fleet, an EV-based delivery vehicle, that has extremely narrow and small dimensions that allow drivers to park effortlessly, while maintaining similar load volume as regular delivery vans. 

Due to the innovative design, these delivery vehicles are only able to reach top speeds of 45 mph, restricting them from operating on high speed roads and motorways. Mapbox helps Picnic avoid high speed roads, motorways, and other high risk areas to keep their drivers safe, while extending vehicle longevity. It’s a win-win for everyone involved. 

Whether you’re a last mile delivery provider, a micromobility OEM, or a micromobility sharing platform, if you need to carefully navigate your vehicles through high risk areas and no-go zones, Mapbox’s Zone Avoidance Routing feature allows you to have full control, so your fleet and customers can stay safe and compliant. 

Operate with Mapbox Zone Avoidance Routing at scale

With Zone Avoidance Routing, developers can manage custom zone data on the Mapbox platform which is trusted by 700 million users and enterprise industry leaders such as General Motors, Lime Technologies (Uber), Instacart, and Trek Bicycles. Built for scale, efficiency and ease, Zone Avoidance Routing allows developers to upload large volumes of zones in real time without user application updates. Also, adapt to changing business needs such as dynamic regulatory changes and fleet expansion to new markets. 

Mapbox Zone Avoidance Routing also seamlessly plugs and plays with the Mapbox ecosystem - visualize zones using Mapbox Tiling Service, incorporating zone avoidance dataset to Direction API requests with existing route customizations; or unlock a fully customized turn-by-turn navigation experience with the Mapbox Nav SDK.

How to get started 

Mapbox Zone Avoidance Routing is now in private preview. Additional features such as preferred routing on specified roadways and motorways will be coming soon.

To get early access to Mapbox Zone Avoidance Routing, schedule a demo with our sales team.