The last decade has seen an explosion of micromobility, with e-scooters in particular, which were unheard of ten years ago, now a common sight in every town and city in the UK and Europe. TRL have recently completed projects for both the European Commission and UK Department for Transport on potential future technical regulations for micromobility. The process identified a range of challenges, not least the difficulty of effectively regulating an industry which is primarily based outside the UK/EU selling directly to consumers. 

However, micromobility offers some interesting opportunities for reducing emissions, promoting more sustainable options for last mile logistics and supporting mobility for disabled people. Getting the balance right between regulations that ensure micromobility products are safe, and promoting innovations that will produce cheap, efficient and accessible transport options for the future is a key challenge for both government and industry. Technical regulations must work in harmony with user regulations and the provision of appropriate infrastructure to support micromobility and active travel.

In this presentation, Dr Ianto Guy will discuss these challenges and the proposals made by TRL to the UK DfT and European Commission for future frameworks for micromobility regulations.

Dr Ianto Guy, Senior Consultant, TRL

Dr Ianto Guy is a senior consultant in vehicle safety and technology at TRL. His background is in the off-highway vehicle industry, holding an MEng in Off-road Vehicle Design and PhD in 4x4 transmission behaviour from Harper Adams University, where he also taught for ten years.

He is also a practicing paramedic, having trained with the Welsh Ambulance Service but now primarily working in motorsport.

At TRL he works across a diverse range of fields including micromobility, automation for on and off-highway vehicles and collision investigation.