About Voi

Voi is a pioneering micromobility company known for its electric scooter and bike-sharing services. Founded in Sweden, Voi has rapidly become a key player in transforming urban transportation, partnering with cities and local communities to deliver sustainable mobility solutions.

With innovative technologies and a user-friendly mobile application, Voi makes it easy for riders to access electric micromobility vehicles, navigate their routes, and help reduce urban congestion and pollution. The company is redefining urban travel, offering a convenient and eco-friendly alternative to traditional transportation.

Focusing on environmental responsibility and collaborating with local governments, Voi empowers eight million users to embrace cleaner, smarter ways to move through cities.

Tailoring location information to micromobility needs

To provide the best user experience, Voi operates millions of micromobility vehicles across nearly 100 cities, each with its own regulations. Ensuring compliance can be challenging, and operational costs increase when Voi scooters or bikes end up in restricted zones, leading to suboptimal operations and risks of regulatory fines. Many of these zones are dynamic, changing on certain days or times, requiring constant monitoring and adjustments.

Additionally, specific safety concerns for scooters and bikes, such as cobblestone streets or high-traffic areas, present risks that demand precise, real-time guidance for riders.

To address these challenges, Voi needed a scalable and reliable location technology that could deliver accurate, real-time information tailored to the unique needs of micromobility.

On-demand micromobility requires map efficiency 

The combination of the Mapbox Mobile Maps SDK, Static Maps, Navigation, and Search provided the ideal solution for Voi’s engineering teams. 

Using the Mapbox Mobile Maps SDK, Voi offers users an efficient, intuitive, and interactive in-app map experience. The Voi app provides real-time insights into the availability of e-scooters and e-bikes, riding zones, and parking spots, enhancing urban mobility. Users can quickly locate nearby e-scooters or e-bikes, scan the QR code on the handlebar, and unlock their ride, making city exploration effortless.

Mapbox Search enhances the user experience by offering precise address search functionality, helping riders reach their destinations quickly and safely. Additionally, the Zone Avoidance feature in Mapbox Navigation products allows Voi to deliver dynamic, customized routes that adjust in real time based on updated location data. Even with frequent data changes, Mapbox ensures seamless route recalibration without requiring users to update the app.

Scaling up with Mapbox as a location partner 

When selecting a location partner, Voi was looking for a platform that could offer flexibility, scalability, and the ability to evolve with their needs. Mapbox provided a powerful geospatial platform with flexible building blocks, enabling Voi engineers to tailor features for their users. 

Voi’s partnership with Mapbox extends beyond adopting location technologies—both teams work together closely to enhance urban mobility for Voi riders.

Location technologies for safer urban mobility

Voi is dedicated to delivering value beyond ride-sharing, collaborating with cities to address specific transportation challenges and foster safer urban mobility. To enhance safety, Voi has partnered with LazarilloApp, a GPS application for the visually impaired. LazarilloApp alerts visually impaired users about nearby parking spots and scooters. Meanwhile, Voi vehicles can emit a sound when a LazarilloApp user is nearby, allowing them to avoid potential risks (a feature available in certain markets).

By integrating location technologies like geofencing, both companies improve mobility and safety in urban areas. For example, Voi uses geofenced zones to identify potentially hazardous areas, such as skateparks, and implement measures to prevent unsafe riding behavior by setting speed limitations, enabling or disabling features, or completely disabling the use of Voi vehicles in the area.

Mapbox-powered features improve Voi’s ease of use and customer satisfaction

Voi continues to improve user experience with the map by optimizing app performance and map latency, improving the communication around zones and map icons, as well as guiding users better throughout the ride journey to provide an effortless user experience. Already, Voi has seen numerous positive results after implementing features powered by Mapbox.

Voi increased the share of rides that use the in-app navigation features by a full percentage point following Voi’s switch to Mapbox Search from their previous search provider. 

After adding Mapbox to in-app navigation, Voi saw a decrease in the number of parking attempts when users are using the parking navigation functionality. The parking navigation is more effectively helping users resolve issues with ending their ride, preventing customer frustration and churn. At the same time, when using the search function in the Mapbox-powered in-app navigation users spend less time parking, which means that the feature is effectively helping riders to plan their routes while taking into account parking regulations. 

Customer support contacts focused on navigation issues decreased by 30% following the Mapbox implementation, compared to the previous year, decreasing Voi’s cost of operations. 

Following the switch to Mapbox maps for Voi’s iOS app, the average time between app launch and starting a ride was faster by up to 2 seconds, a significant improvement in the user experience and contributor to customer retention.

Shaping the future of micromobility

As one of the fastest-growing micromobility companies, Voi is driving innovation and setting new standards for sustainable urban development. Using Mapbox location technologies, Voi operates a fleet of electric scooters and e-bikes across Europe, enhancing user experiences with embedded search functions, advanced Zone Avoidance features, and interactive map experiences. By providing accurate real-time data, Mapbox helps Voi reduce operational costs and improve service quality.

By prioritizing rider safety, maintaining compliance with local regulations, and focusing on building greener cities, Voi is shaping the future of urban mobility.