
Segway ends production of its original scooter - bookofjoe
https://www.fastcompany.com/90517971/exclusive-segway-the-most-hyped-invention-since-the-macintosh-to-end-production?partner=feedburner&utm_source=feedly&utm_medium=feed&utm_campaign=feedburner+fastcompany&utm_content=feedburner
======
mdasen
I think the Segway just missed the mark. The real game-changing device is the
e-bike and we can see its immense popularity. Segway may have only sold
140,000 of their devices over its lifetime, but e-bikes are selling by the
tens of millions.

One problem with a Segway is that there isn't great space for it. It's far too
fast for sidewalks at 10MPH and it's too slow for bike lanes where cyclists
often want to go 15MPH. We don't have space to accommodate them and cities are
often unwilling to make even minor changes to their infrastructure, never mind
the large changes that would be needed to accommodate Segways throughout
cities - and take away space from other modes of transit like cars.

E-bikes piggyback on roads and bike infrastructure that cyclists have been
using for a long time. It's often less than ideal infrastructure, but it
works. Likewise, bike parking accommodates e-bikes in a way that it might not
accommodate a Segway as well.

E-bikes are also a lot cheaper. $1,000 can get you a solid e-bike (RadPower
just launched its RadMission 1 today at $999). While many e-bikes are
$2,000-$3,000, that's still around a third of the price of a Segway. Walmart
has some e-bikes for around $700 which are nothing amazing, but have more
speed and range than a Segway.

E-bikes typically have a lot more range than a Segway. While a Segway X2 SE
has a range of 12 miles, e-bikes typically start at 25 miles of range for low-
end bikes on very high assist levels. My e-bike ($1,500 purchase price) is
rated for 50 miles and I can usually get 80+ on eco mode which still offers
decent assist.

I think there's definitely utility in mid-speed (10-30 MPH, faster than
walking, not quite car speed), battery-powered, lightweight transit devices. I
just think that Segway missed the mark with something that was way too
expensive, put riders in a riding position they didn't really like, had a
control system that didn't seem to connect with people as much as it needed
to, and didn't fit in with existing infrastructure enough. We're seeing a huge
surge in demand for these type of devices, just not Segways. Heck, Ninebot
(who purchased Segway) is selling loads of electric powered razor-style
scooters.

I loved the iBOT. When I heard that the creator of the iBOT was making a
mobility device, I expected something amazing. The iBOT was a wheelchair that
could go up and down stairs and keep someone at a 5-7 foot height. It seemed
amazing. Then the Segway was introduced and I thought "how on earth could
someone think cities would be reconfigured for this?" It seemed to ignore what
we knew about what people liked to ride while being incredibly expensive and
generally less useful.

I can use my e-bike for so many things. I can get around my city with little
worry about range and I'm usually faster than car traffic. I don't have to
worry about range because I have so much extra. If I had a Segway, I'd be
moving about at under 10MPH (with traffic signals and such) and I'd be
constantly worried about range. 12 miles is a short distance for a round trip.
If I travel 6 miles on my e-bike, I have at least 40 miles of range left. If I
travel 6 miles on a Segway, I'm down to half my battery - or less if there
were hills. I might not have power to get back.

The Segway was just never useful enough and it cost so much. E-bikes, electric
kick-scooters, electric long-boards, etc. are all showing that there's a big
market for mid-speed mobility tech. There just wasn't a market for Segways.

~~~
jchanimal
My electric cargo bike gets across town (with multiple passengers) as fast as
driving, always gets the best parking, and can do the Home Depot run. You
inspired me to post some photos:
[https://twitter.com/jchris/status/1275588731353722882?s=21](https://twitter.com/jchris/status/1275588731353722882?s=21)

The bike is a Packster 80. The new ones since I bought mine have more power.
[https://www.splendidcycles.com/products/riese-and-
muller/rie...](https://www.splendidcycles.com/products/riese-and-muller/riese-
muller-cargo-bikes)

~~~
stickfigure
This is an $8,000 bicycle.

~~~
Cthulhu_
That's the part I don't get; carrier bikes (bakfietsen) have been around since
forever, used by tradesmen and the people alike. Motorized variants as well, I
mean it can be botched together with an old lawnmower engine if need be.

It wasn't a problem that needed solving, but it was a solution that rich
people rediscovered. I guess two-stroke engines were beneath them?

~~~
user5994461
>>> I guess two-stroke engines were beneath them?

Too much maintenance with mixing up oil and gas.

~~~
jhoechtl
Yeah, at least it should be four-stroke with dedicated oil lubrication.

Why doens't an E-bike doesn't need annual inspection while something like

[https://fr.wikipedia.org/wiki/V%C3%A9loSoleX](https://fr.wikipedia.org/wiki/V%C3%A9loSoleX)

does require annual inspection? Still looking for a real lightweight bike with
an ICE. Speed wouldn't matter, 20MPH / 30km/h would sound reasonable.

~~~
arghwhat
> Why doens't an E-bike doesn't need annual inspection while something like
> ... does require annual inspection?

Emission testing as a moped, which is inapplicable to e-bikes.

(Probably also some bureaucracy, but that's separate.)

> lightweight bike with an ICE

That's an oxymoron. You can, however, get lightweight and entirely stealthy
e-bike.

That gives you much more for much less, saves you the terrible noise of a
small ICE with improper exhaust dampening, saves you a lot of maintenance, and
probably also saves you and those around you some lung cancer while we're at
it.

------
hoorayimhelping
Sometime around 2012, my parents got me a segway tour in a city I was planning
to visit one time. Kind of the dorkiest thing ever. My girlfriend and I
grudgingly did it, and it ended up being awesome. Even though you look super
dorky, those things are really fun, and they're a great way to get a tour of a
lot of city in a short amount of time without a lot of exhaustion. Since
you're in a group, you're with a bunch of other dorks and you all look like
dorks together, but you're all having fun anyway so you don't care. I was
really surprised how quickly they stop and how well they can turn.

~~~
leetrout
I had the same experience. They are so much fun.

The tour I did in DC had 3 accidents in 75 minutes with ambulances called for
two of them. It was wild.

~~~
giancarlostoro
> The tour I did in DC had 3 accidents in 75 minutes with ambulances called
> for two of them. It was wild.

Sorry I have to ask but this reads weird to me, but do you mean accidents in
DC or accidents with 3 people from your tour?

~~~
leetrout
Yes, three people on the tour crashed, two of them required an ambulance.

~~~
giancarlostoro
Wow that is unfortunate, thanks for the clarification, I'm not familiar with
the area or Segways, though I do go to DC every few years for the museums.

~~~
leetrout
The first accident was coming down 15th by the treasury where there are large
bollards on the sidewalk- an older gentleman in his sixties was zipping around
and he went full speed down the sidewalk and clipped the wheel on the very
edge of one and it spun around throwing him off- very much like going over the
handlebars on a bike. I assume he broke something between his wrist and collar
bone (or both).

The next one was going off a sidewalk if memory serves but was minor.

The third one was over on the north side of the Capitol- we were idling around
while the guide was talking and this older lady in her fifties or sixties was
kinda floating through the crowd but didn't seem out of control- she went
around this big tree and either lost control or wasn't paying attention as it
was getting dark and went full speed around the side of a tree and ran right
in to a lamp post. It knocked her out.

I was getting nervous riding back feeling like we were all going to experience
some mishap.

~~~
dafoex
Kinda feels like age of the people may have been a factor here. Segways do
require good reaction times and constant awareness of your surroundings
because they don't stop (even when stationary they have power to the wheels
keeping them balanced, and if you move they move) and it the tour guide
thought anyone was too young, old, or otherwise not capable to control the
vehicle, they shouldn't have let them go out in public.

Not saying that was the only factor, it could easily have been the tour guide
not giving adequate safety instructions or simply people ignoring those
instructions... or a mixture of all three!

------
hn_throwaway_99
I still feel like Segway needs a case study regarding how they were able to
garner _so_ much hype before it was announced. I remember the breathless
"change the world" articles quite well (from nearly 20 years ago, yikes!).
This sentence from the Wikipedia article is, well, humorous: "John Doerr
speculated that it would be more important than the Internet".

Was really baffling to me at the time how they had such amazing PR.

~~~
manigandham
It was also a time before social media, mass consumer internet, and all the
high-tech things we take for granted today. It was a futuristic device that
looked and sounded fantastic with no real competition. People were amazed by
the balancing tech alone (and there was a similar wheelchair prototype).

~~~
CrazyStat
It had the hype before it was even revealed, when it was known simply as "It."

~~~
zamboni-killer
I remember spending far too much time on a forum built around what “it” was,
called theitquestion.com. Nobody knew what it was going to be so there was a
lot of speculation. Personally I was _extremely_ disappointed by “it”.

~~~
serf
I went looking for _it_ [0]

talk about hype!

>This mysterious invention, reportedly created by National Medal of Technology
Award winner, Dean Kamen, is on everyone's lips and has captured everyone's
imaginations.

[0] :
[https://web.archive.org/web/20010220161915/http://theitquest...](https://web.archive.org/web/20010220161915/http://theitquestion.com/)

------
ntbnt
I'm not sure this article is all that accurate.

"Segway" is a brand that has passed through several hands after Dean Kaman
sold it a while back.

This sounds to me like the New Hampshire plant is no longer going to
manufacture Segway units, rather than the technology being discontinued
altogether.

Ninebot of China acquired Segway and uses the IP to defend their self-
balancing inventions.

[https://time.com/3822962/segway-ninebot-
china/](https://time.com/3822962/segway-ninebot-china/)

It looks like ninebot still produces the Segway in China, and I don't imagine
will stop soon.

[https://www.segway.com/professionals](https://www.segway.com/professionals)

~~~
passivepinetree
The article mentions all of that content (though without those links). Perhaps
they changed it? It's a fastcompany domain now.

~~~
ntbnt
Oh, I see that it does, sorry, skimmed the article.

I still think the main news here is just that the legacy Segway PT unit is
being discontinued, along with the US manufacturing facilities in New
Hampshire, where it doesn't make sense for a Chinese company to be
manufacturing.

Seems to me like Mark Wilson of Fast company is trying to make a bigger story
out of that, when I'm not sure there is one.

 _Fast Company has learned that the Segway brand will retire the last Segway
as we know it, the Segway PT. Manufacturing at the Bedford, New Hampshire,
plant will stop July 15_

------
mauvehaus
I saw a genuinely brilliant use of a Segway (or similar):

I saw a person with one leg using a Segway. Presumably to make this less
tiring, somebody had mounted a post to the place where the feet normally go,
and then mounted a bicycle saddle that slides back and forth. I didn't get a
close look, and I might have some of the details wrong, but I think this
covers the gist of it.

For a person with a mobility impairment that limits the speed or distance they
can walk, I can see it being absolutely transformative.

For the rest of us, Raymond Chen overheard a colleague who worded it better
than I could hope to:

"I was floored by the engineering achievement of creating a device that
combined the speed benefits of walking with the exercise benefits of driving,
and for just the cost of a used Honda!"

[https://devblogs.microsoft.com/oldnewthing/20110520-01/?p=10...](https://devblogs.microsoft.com/oldnewthing/20110520-01/?p=10603)

~~~
emmelaich
Likewise I hope they (or someone) keeps making segway style wheelchairs.

They make it possible to navigate stairsn and include a lift to let
wheelchair-bound people to access high cupboards.

------
melling
Steve Jobs and Jeff Bezos meet Ginger:

[https://hbswk.hbs.edu/archive/steve-jobs-and-jeff-bezos-
meet...](https://hbswk.hbs.edu/archive/steve-jobs-and-jeff-bezos-meet-ginger)

Sorry, that version of the story is paywalled. Other versions discuss Steve
Jobs’ views on the early Segway:

[https://www.forbes.com/sites/briancaulfield/2010/09/27/steve...](https://www.forbes.com/sites/briancaulfield/2010/09/27/steve-
jobs-explains-why-were-not-all-riding-a-segway/)

[https://www.wired.com/2015/01/well-didnt-work-segway-
technol...](https://www.wired.com/2015/01/well-didnt-work-segway-
technological-marvel-bad-doesnt-make-sense/)

------
bluedino
We had a small fleet (12 of them) at the manufacturing plant I worked at back
in 2007.

They were great because staff could save tons of time running back to the
production area or warehouse. Maintenance had the models with tool bags on the
sides.

They were very expensive to repair, and had lots of quirks that needed
firmware updates and such.

We got acquired and the new parent company wouldn’t take the liability, so I
had to pallet them up and sell the whole lot on eBay.

~~~
Yetanfou
The same can be achieved using 3-wheel kick bikes of the type often used in
hospitals or bicycles. They're cheaper, they give the staff a bit - but not
too much - of a workout, they rarely break down and you never have to update
any firmware.

------
hamandcheese
> “We tried analyzing, how come sales cannot go up quickly? One reason, I hate
> to say, is the quality of it, how durable it is,” Cai says. “I talk to
> customers riding [an old] unit. It doesn’t look good because it’s been on
> the road 12 years. It has 100,000 miles on it. But the machine itself runs
> very well. And so when you try to sell new units [to those customers] . . .
> unfortunately, it does hurt us.” Over the past three years, sales were flat
> on Segway PTs, dropping from 5% of Segway/Ninebot’s revenue to a mere 1.5%,
> Cai says.

Wow, I resent this so much. Does no one aspire to build reliable products
anymore?

It feels like modern capitalism revolves around turning every customer into a
recurring stream of income. Selling something once to a lot of people doesn’t
allow for infinite growth.

------
acdha
I remember back when Dean Kamen managed an epic PR campaign: there were weeks
of coverage speculating about what “It” was and how it would transform cities
and daily life. At least for those of us on the early web, it was an Apple-
scale PR event.

Then it actually launched and everyone had a disappointed “that's it?” I
actually would not have predicted that it would take until 2020 to fold.

~~~
k__
Haha, sounds like the Magic Leap.

------
leetrout
Before the Segway was Dean Kamen’s iBot wheelchair.

It would rise up on two wheels and balance so the rider was eye level with
standing people. And it would go up and down stairs. Truly amazing IMO.

[https://msu.edu/~luckie/segway/iBOT/iBOT.html](https://msu.edu/~luckie/segway/iBOT/iBOT.html)

Totally unrelated I am now 35 and feel completely unfulfilled in life when I
look at everything Kamen does. I would love to work at a full time research
institute experimenting and innovating.

~~~
NortySpock
I give back by mentoring a FIRST Robotics high school team near me (another
Dean Kamen project).

------
samcheng
The 'revolutionary' impact of the Segway might still come to pass.

It'll just be on conventionally-oriented two-wheeled electric mobility
devices: scooters and ebikes.

I hope it happens!

~~~
teruakohatu
> The 'revolutionary' impact of the Segway might still come to pass.

The self balancing aspect was what segway bought to the table. There was
nothing revolutionary about the battery and motor. They originally even used
NIMH batteries.

It was lightweight high performance lithium batteries that pushed the electric
alternative transport market.

~~~
kristofferR
Purely technologically that is true, but Segway did a lot to popularize and
drive forward the concept of micromobility.

------
alex_young
Meanwhile OneWheel [0] is selling more $1800 scooters than it can handle right
now. All made in California.

[0] [https://onewheel.com/](https://onewheel.com/)

------
ars
The article tries to blame all sort of things for not selling well, but the
real reason is super simple: They were too expensive.

Back when they came out I too was affected by the hype and wanted to get one -
until I saw the price and said "never mind".

Drop the price to 1/10 of the amount, to $500, and it would _still_ be
expensive, but at least there's something to talk about there. At $5000 it was
an easy decision not to get it.

~~~
oska
> but the real reason is super simple: They were too expensive

Disagree. I wouldn't buy one if they were one-tenth the price (and I think
that sentiment would be shared by many people). The real reason is that it was
and is a stupid product, even if some of the technology involved was
innovative.

~~~
TheCondor
Stupid now that you’ve only seen wealthy dorks on them or stupid like people
don’t want rechargeable urban mobility devices? Because in Denver, before
COVID, there were maybe four escooter outfits and people flying all over on
them. Seems like they almost didn’t have enough.

I think they had a brilliant idea, they were too early to the market, over
marketed and then simply priced themselves out of contention. I’ll never
understand why they didn’t have a cost reduced model

~~~
oska
Stupid because the forward facing standing stance is wrong for mobility.
Standing sideways is better for a fixed stance on a moving platform (e.g.
surfboards, skateboards, snowboards, sailboards, etc). If you're forward
facing then you should have active independent movement between the two legs
(as with walking, running, skiing, ice-skating, etc).

~~~
tartoran
I disagree. I own a solowheel and after the initial learning curve it became
safer and even more intuitive than walking. IMO, the sidestance may be okay if
one switches sides as to exercise the body and the brain both ways. In reality
people stick to whatever their dominant leg is upfront. Feels weird and prone
to skeletomuscular imbalances.

------
reedwolf
I can never resist bringing up that the company's owner died on one of these
things back in 2010:

[https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-england-
leeds-11416654](https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-england-leeds-11416654)

~~~
wand3r
I think it was the CEO not the founder

~~~
bogwog
He was the founder of the company that acquired Segway in 2009. So...not
founder of Segway.

------
ngngngng
I like buying new tech, and I used to be into fun quirky ways to get around.
The Segway was just too expensive without enough benefit. I guess I've never
lived close enough to work to consider walking, but that seems to be the main
appeal.

Now I've got a friend trying to convince me to buy a OneWheel. I just can't
justify $1500 for a weird skateboard when I could literally order an electric
car on Alibaba for that much money.

I figure between legs, bikes, cars, trains and planes, we've pretty much got
transportation solved. Segway tried to solve what bikes solved a hundred years
earlier. But bikes are less expensive, are also really fun, and are great
exercise.

~~~
sergeykish
OneWheel looks like a fun way to kill yourself. Looking at their commercials
even simple routes are extreme.

I've rode inline skates to work, ride kick scooter and bicycle. But it was
Heelys stop from 5 km/s to 0 face down on asphalt that was the worst. Quick
change of direction - from forward to into the ground. Too quick for brain but
hands took part of the momentum. Palms heart, it would be unfortunate to be
programmer with broken palms, I was lucky. Stay safe.

~~~
opportune
I see people riding them frequently in SF. They seem to ride pretty normally
and most people use bike lanes (sounds silly but they go fast enough). I have
heard that the biggest problem is the automatic braking/throttling to limit
top speed kicking in on downhills, triggering face plants. As long as you are
good at maintaining balance on a board and stick to flattish bike lanes they
seem pretty safe

~~~
sergeykish
Mmm, I meant don't take it like electric scooter. I have not tried but failure
mode compound with speed would kill. Official version advertises as casual
[1], should be extreme [2]. At least wear palms protection - it is a weak
point.

And for example kick scooter is not that safe. Inline skates on the same speed
gives much more control. Bicycle is yet safer.

I like the idea - should be fun to ride, I do not like product placement.

[1]
[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=XNqOU4jx62I](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=XNqOU4jx62I)

[2]
[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Ys3ivCUxIvY](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Ys3ivCUxIvY)

------
INTPenis
This story fascinated me because what I took away from it was millionaires not
understanding what the market would buy.

And other millionaires hyped it up, like Steve Jobs/Woz.

When I first heard of the Segway of course it was cool, I'm a massive geek.
But I'm not going to spend what was 80000 SEK at the time for a toy I can't
even park anywhere.

And the whole purchase of Segway by China where they actually understood what
the market wanted and launched e-scooters is the icing on this whole story.

Stay grounded.

------
squarefoot
Of all projects by Segway, the coolest one is the one they never mass
produced: the Centaur.

[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=l486tKKIifY](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=l486tKKIifY)

------
rootusrootus
Too expensive and they got completely upstaged by cheap hoverboards using
essentially the same technology.

~~~
kd5bjo
The hoverboards _don’t_ use the same technology, which is what allows them to
be so cheap. My understanding is that they effectively replace the electronic
feedback control system of the segway with the user’s biological one.

~~~
sudosysgen
No, they do indeed use the same technology. They have an accelerator fed into
a micro-controller that provides the exact wheel torque necessary to prevent
the user. Which is exactly how a Segway works.

------
JoeAltmaier
I think the Segway is a dangerous accident waiting to happen. You try to step
off holding the handle, it either jumps around like a startled horse, or tries
to run away. You can't just put it down - it'll do violent things and endanger
those around you.

Bump a curb or a trash can, it goes wild trying to recover, circling violently
or spinning a wheel.

Just google 'Segway fails' and enjoy hours of shocking screwups. Here:
[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=GII7QZy2GHM](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=GII7QZy2GHM)

It's exhausting to ride, difficult to master, hazardous on sidewalks or city
streets. As an insurer, I'd ban it.

So no, it never 'took off'. For good reason.

------
nailer
Here's a 2001 article on Segway's introduction (I wanted to find the Wired one
but couldn't):
[https://www.theguardian.com/technology/2001/dec/03/internetn...](https://www.theguardian.com/technology/2001/dec/03/internetnews1)

Also
[http://content.time.com/time/specials/packages/article/0,288...](http://content.time.com/time/specials/packages/article/0,28804,1936165_1936240_1936361,00.html)

------
dekhn
I remember when the segway first was announced (or leaked?) on slashdot. Based
on the ensuing posts and comments (slashdot was the sort-of hacker news of the
day, in 2001) it was going to revolutionize the world. Instead, the hype and
public opinion travelled faster than the product, and it sort of never took
off. I took it as my quintessential lesson in how to manage the announcement
and deployment of novel technologies like robotics. Self driving cars seem
similar in a lot of ways.

------
asdff
Micro mobility is ripe for disruption. The only problem is that the current
offerings are toys for rich people. Want an e bike? That will be >$700 on top
of these absolute bottom shelf bike components. electric skateboard? North of
$500, or an order of magnitude more expensive than a skateboard you push
yourself. In a world where the vast majority of people balk at the idea of
spending more than $200 on a regular bike, devices charging much more than
that are not going to fly, and the lack of widespread adoption despite
micromobility services having normalized their use in traffic demonstrates
this; a $3 ride on a rinky dink scooter is a different prospect than spending
$500 on your own poorly constructed scooter that you now have to watch like a
hawk for theft, keep charged, and maintain. Especially if they are to be used,
abused, stolen, and regularly replaced in cities, the costs are just too high
for a lot of people to be comfortable making the switch.

Myself included, actually. I wanted to get an ebike so I wouldn't sweat on my
rides to work, but after seeing the prices for even alibaba tier junk bikes, I
just dropped the $400 I was hoping to spend for an ebike on a road bike with
full ultegra components, and got in better shape.

~~~
sudosysgen
I think the solution is to make e-bikes into full vehicles you can use for the
majority of your transportation needs. I'm building an e-bike right now with a
range of hopefully around 150-200km, using recycled batteries. Sadly, it would
still be too expensive to build one with new batteries, but it's getting
there.

That drastically changes the value proposition as you can use it to commute to
work, to go on road trips, to get groceries, and so on.

~~~
asdff
I agree, but battery tech has a long way to go in weight and capacity to
become the every vehicle, unless hot swapping stations become as widespread as
bird scooters. When I was looking for a commuter, I was initially leaning e
bike, but was disappointed at most ranges being <30 miles. I ended up just
buying a road bike and getting in better shape so I don't sweat when I bike in
to work.

------
GCA10
Lots of great discussion here about the Segway's severe problems with product-
market fit. It's all true, and it's all quite poignant.

But in the spirit of completeness, let's take a moment to think about the
messed-up people dynamics, too. After all, it's still worth wondering why a
visionary CEO and some very smart engineers could go so far off course.

There's a fascinating fly-on-the-wall account of Segway's origins in "Code
Name Ginger," a 2003 book by Steve Kemper. (Review is here:
[https://www.wsj.com/articles/SB105581785554884900](https://www.wsj.com/articles/SB105581785554884900))
Two key insights:

Founder Dean Kamen sounds like an A+ visionary but a quite terrifying PM, with
many sudden, late changes that took a toll on the project.

Also, having both Jeff Bezos and Steve Jobs as investors -- who would weigh in
(at the same meeting!) with ideas about how to fix everything -- sounds a lot
like putting your wet fingers in a wall socket. Or swallowing an 90-day supply
of meds all at once. Too much genius, in too many directions, is a peril in
its own right

------
tiew9Vii
Dated laws likely didn't help them.

Electric scooters have the same issues even though they are a more convenient
form factor, they are illegal in a lot of places to ride on a public road /
footpath / cycle lane. When I have walked to work in the morning I've seen
many overzealous police officers pulling people over on electric scooters and
the stacking fines even if they are being responsible and in cycle lanes.

------
chrisco255
Worth noting, Segway still has a broad selection of products including
scooters, electric dirt bikes, an AI-enhanced personal transport assistant,
and go karts. [https://www.segway.com](https://www.segway.com)

------
neiman
The Segway idea lives, it turned into the e-scooter and create an urban
mobility revolution.

------
stevewilhelm
The Segway Polo world championship is the Woz Challenge Cup.

[https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Segway_polo#Woz_Cup](https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Segway_polo#Woz_Cup)

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ntbnt
I don't think it's correct to assume from this that the Segway as we know it
is dead.

All this article says is that the New Hampshire plant is shutting down, and
that the Segway PT is being discontinued.

However, the majority of Segways are manufactured in China by Ninebot.

Will the i2 SE, x2 SE, and police branded models be discontinued as well? It
seems unlikely.

I personally was introduced to self-balancing vehicles through the Solowheel,
invented by Shane Chen of Camas WA. (Also the inventor of the hoverboard), and
never thought the Segway was a particularly attractive proposition.

~~~
ntbnt
It looks like a bunch of outlets are picking this up and repeating it under
headlines like "Segway is dead". Bit of a PR nightmare.

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rasengan0
So sad that Segway was ahead of its time. Imagine the consumer benefit of a
durable good that you didn't need to be upsold every product cycle.

Variable regulation early on shorted critical mass of an ubiquitous Wall-E
mobility future [https://www.transit.dot.gov/regulations-and-
guidance/civil-r...](https://www.transit.dot.gov/regulations-and-
guidance/civil-rights-ada/use-segways-transportation-vehicles)

------
irrational
I remember way back on Slashdot when there was a teaser that there was this
huge announcement coming that would revolutionize transportation and cause
cities to totally be rebuilt around this new mode of transportation. The
reality has fallen a bit short of the initial expectations ;-)

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nathanvanfleet
After Juicero, Magic Leap, Ooya, Theranos I can't possibly believe it's the
"most hyped since the Macintosh." I do clearly remember when it was first
coming out, and people did in fact get in on the hype of it; but it doesn't
seem even on par.

~~~
perl4ever
I've never even heard of Magic Leap or Ooya, and all I heard about Juicero or
Theranos was from the perspective of the rise and fall of them as speculative
investments. Nothing aimed at consumers.

And I do vaguely remember the prelaunch hype for the Segway. There might be
some rival other than the original Macintosh, but none of the four you name
seem remotely similar to me.

------
starpilot
Boosted Boards (YC S12) has also laid off almost everyone and said to be near
bankruptcy.

~~~
bsimpson
[https://www.theverge.com/2020/4/24/21233215/boosted-usa-
rema...](https://www.theverge.com/2020/4/24/21233215/boosted-usa-remaining-
inventory-site-launch)

They liquidated all their inventory months ago.

------
guidoism
Wow, I had no idea they still made them. I remember on the 8th floor at the
Pac Med building of Amazon in early 2000 Jeff giggling his ass off on one of
those every day for a week. I'd never seen one since.

------
PebblesHD
That’s a shame, personally I always wanted one but our local government
(Sydney, Aus) banned them outside of a few special parks so you can’t actually
use them normally. Farewell you beautiful strange things...

------
dwighttk
Cities designed around it: 0

------
jerzyt
Sort of a brilliant engineering solution to a non-existent problem. Or a very
niche problem to say the least.

Mall or airport security certainly fits the niche, but difficult to scale
beyond these examples.

------
VWWHFSfQ
Dang. RIP Segway. The butt of so many jokes..

------
keyle
End of an era.

I laugh at the next generation looking back on us like we mock the early days
of cars...

They'll probably make a 1 wheel version.

~~~
icebraining
> They'll probably make a 1 wheel version.

They did a few years ago: [https://www.segway.com/ninebot-
one-s1/](https://www.segway.com/ninebot-one-s1/)

------
adammunich
They never did fix the batteries self destructing if not charged every other
month problem, did they?

------
dcscooter
The mini pro or ninebot S blows them away. We rent with handles bars in dc
dcscooter.com

------
visarga
Boys, do you remember the hype around the original Segway launch? hehe, how
time flies

------
tanilama
Will that self-balancing chair still get to see the light of the day?

~~~
mtmail
I've seen somebody driving a wheelchair version in a supermarket (also later
outside, it was fast) [https://www.segfree.co.za/](https://www.segfree.co.za/)
It seems the use Segway parts so not sure if that product can continue.

------
bargle0
“IT” was never cheap enough to change anything.

------
dang
Url changed from [https://www.theverge.com/2020/6/23/21300365/segway-self-
bala...](https://www.theverge.com/2020/6/23/21300365/segway-self-balancing-
scooter-end-production-layoffs), which points to this.

~~~
istorical
would it be possible to change the title to Segway ends production of its
original two-wheeled, self-balancing personal transporter?

the segway brand is now well known and successfuly as the Segway-Ninebot
company that produces for example all of the electric scooters for Lyft.

~~~
perl4ever
Segway segued into other things?

------
quaffapint
Somewhere Adam Savage is shedding a tear.

