Bird says it will be able to detect sidewalk riding “almost instantly” with this new system. When it happens, the rider will get a phone notification letting them know they’re uh, on the literal sidewalk, and the scooter itself will emit an incessant “audible alert” alongside that notification. Bird doesn’t describe what that alert might sound like—others have said it will consist of annoying beeps, which makes sense: we’ve seen other e-scooter companies test devices that angrily beep at riders when they’re caught on sidewalks, too.

In Bird’s case, if neither the cellphone alert nor the beeping does the trick (not to mention the piles and piles of research pointing to how dangerous sidewalk-bound scootering can be), the scooter will simply just slow down and stop.
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