Uber rolls out its first electric scooters

Uber's first electric scooters are out on the streets of Santa Monica, California. While electric scooters have been approved by the city and other companies have already started rolling out their models since last year in other states of the US, Uber's dockless devices arrives earlier this week in Santa Monica.

Manufactured by Ninebot, the parent company of Segway, these scooters are available to reserve through Uber's app and cost USD 1 to unlock and 15 cents per minute to ride, which is chargeable after the first five minutes.

As The Verge reports, getting your hands on these scooters isn't easy because if you don't park these in their designated areas after the ride, you will be liable to pay a fine of USD 25.

Uber is also offering 'scooter swaps' which allows customers to reserve for a closer device while walking to their reserved scooter from the designated area.