Bungo, a Brazilian-based software-on-demand company, is bringing electric scooters to Portugal’s scenic streets with the Internet of Things. Powered by the Particle IoT platform, Bungo has already launched 100 deployed scooters in Lisbon within just three months.
“When we found Particle, we realized that all the things we had been struggling to build for months were already there.”
Bungo founder, João Pedro Candido, had been watching the scooter market for awhile and wanted to launch his own mobility startup to get into the game. To get up and running, Candido set his sights on Portugal, where scooters had already been widely accepted.
Bungo first tried developing some prototypes with Arduino, but failed quickly. “We had to develop all the base systems ourselves because the Arduino hardware was so limited,” said Candido. “We were so desperate that we simply started Googling to find something that might work better.”
A fully-integrated IoT Advantage
After much research, Bungo discovered how easy it was to build a mobility solution using the Particle IoT platform. In fact, they were able to build a working prototype in just 3 days with the platform’s connectivity hardware, developer tools, and cloud infrastructure.
Using a Particle Electron, Bungo was able to connect their scooters to the Internet over cellular networks. Acting as an asset tracker, the Electron helped Bungo monitor the location and status of every scooter they had deployed out in the field.
With Particle’s developer tools, Bungo could manage and update the code on their scooters wirelessly. If a scooter started having communication issues, they could flash an update and even add new features. The Particle platform also offered the flexibility of data autonomy and, crucially for a scooter company, a scalable infrastructure with a cloud platform that could easily grow from one unit to one million units.
From late in the game to leading player
Before Particle, Bungo had been trying to develop a connected scooter for six weeks. With Particle, they were on the road after just three days of prototyping work. “It simply wouldn’t have been possible without Particle,” said Candido. “We were late to the scooter game in the EU, but now we’re competing against all the big names.”
As cities are looking for reliable partners, Bungo is best positioned thanks in part to Particle’s flexible infrastructure. “We now have the tools to provide whatever kind of deployment a city asks for,” says Candido.
Bungo is now expanding into Braga and Porto, two smaller Portuguese cities. In fact, they are working in partnership with local governments to develop virtual parking stations (IoT hotspots) to counteract the growing number of scooters cluttered across the street.
