Closing a gap in urban accessibility: Bolt repurposes everyday scooter rides to map street-level surface quality, creating open data that can help cities, developers and navigation platforms improve wheelchair accessibility.
Munich, 16 September 2026 – Bolt, the European shared mobility platform, has launched Wheels4Wheels, an initiative that gives wheelchair users street-level information on the most crucial factor for wheelchair navigation: surface quality.
It repurposes sensors already fitted to Bolt scooters to collect accessibility data that mainstream maps have long been missing, and make it publicly accessible so that any navigation service, city authority, or developer can use it immediately and for free.
From scooters to street smarts
For the 80 million people worldwide relying on a wheelchair to get around, surface conditions are not a question of comfort – but a serious health risk: A 2013 study found that all participants suffered from chronic pain caused by the constant vibrations they experience when traveling over rough ground.
While mainstream navigation apps can route users around steps, they cannot tell them whether a pavement is paved or cobblestone.
To overcome this challenge, Wheels4Wheels uses accelerometers, gyroscopes, GPS receivers, and cameras already installed in scooters to support vehicle safety and maintenance to analyze the data recorded on daily trips and translates it to surface quality on a five-point scale.
Successful launch in Tallinn
“Being in a wheelchair trains you for the unexpected”, said accessibility advocate Hendra Raud from Tallinn, Estonia. “Cobblestone makes your entire body ache, and getting stuck can mess up your entire schedule. You feel frustrated. So it’s a great feeling to finally have a map of the world the way we actually experience it.”
In the Tallinn pilot, Bolt scooters covered 550 km across all eight city districts, capturing 40.5 million accelerometer readings and producing 66,088 individual surface ratings, with manual mapping conducted in parallel to validate the method. As a result, available surface-quality information across Tallinn increased by 26%.
A bold outlook into the future
“Every year, our scooters cover millions of kilometers across hundreds of cities, registering every bump, slope, and uneven surface along the way”, said Ardo Reinsalu, Director of Vehicles at Bolt. “We have long shared that data with city partners to help improve roads and pavements for everyone. Wheels4Wheels takes that a step further by making the same information available directly to the people who need it most – without building a new app, but improving the maps they already use. This initiative changes how we think about scooters themselves, as something that goes beyond getting people around and actively helps make cities more accessible for everyone.”
Alex Schill, Global Chief Creative Officer at Serviceplan, adds: “Wheels4Wheels shows how an existing platform can be reimagined as civic infrastructure. What began as mobility data for fleet operations becomes a practical tool for inclusion, turning a familiar urban service into an open resource for more accessible cities. We’re very proud to support a matter that hopefully improves the daily live of thousands of people.”
About Bolt & Wheels4Wheels
Bolt operates more than 230,000 scooters across more than 270 cities worldwide, generating millions of data points every day.
The full Wheels4Wheels pipeline is released as open-source software under MIT licence, meaning any city, developer, or organization can access, run, and adapt it freely. Data is published to OpenStreetMap, the worlds’ largest open-source map database, from where it’s automatically integrated into apps that support surface-based routing, and can be used by developers including Apple and Microsoft with apps used by more than 1 billion people.
Wheels4Wheels was developed together with a range of voices and expertise to ensure the outcome was grounded in real lived experience.
Contributors included
- Hendra Raud, UX designer, content creator, and wheelchair user
- Lucy Webster, journalist for The Guardian, author, and accessibility advocate
- Tom Rüütel, an accessibility advisor for people with mobility impairments
Organizational partners included
- Serviceplan Group for creative direction
- 1ar labs for engineering the technical workflow
- We Make Them Wonder and B.east for film production
- DaisyDaisy and TwoKiids for postproduction
- Black Cat White Cat for music and sound
- Differ for PR
The Website with more information here.
