This article investigates the attempts to regulate innovation in Sweden’s road traffic system, specifically small, two-wheeled motorized vehicles or mopeds. Regulators wanted to establish a definition of the moped as a utility vehicle. Moped users and producers challenged their intentions, envisioning the moped as a vehicle for leisure. Our close reading of artefacts allows us to trace the evolution of moped technology and to conceptualize innovation in the moped niche. Situating moped innovation within the context of regulatory attempts and social change, we show how the imposition of technical requirements failed to regulate specific usage of a consumer technology. More broadly, the case study shows how users together with the producers find ways to innovate and shape technologies for their own purposes.
Keywords: freedom, moped, regulation, road traffic system, Sweden, welfare state