Segway Will Stop Making Its Iconic Self-balancing Scooter (engadget.com) 83
It's the end of an unusual era in transportation. From a report: Fast Company has learned that the Segway brand will stop producing the Segway PT (Personal Transporter) at its Bedford, New Hampshire plant, where most production has taken place, on July 15th. The move will result in 25 people being laid off, and reflects the long-term struggles of a product that was supposed to revolutionize transportation, but never really took off. Inventor Dean Kamen launched the Segway PT in December 2001 with promises that it would revolutionize city transport -- the self-balancing two-wheeler was supposed to cover the middle ground between walking and driving in a way that bikes couldn't. However, it never sold in huge numbers, managing just 140,000 units in nearly 20 years. It ultimately found the most use among security teams (immortalized by Paul Blart: Mall Cop) and tourists. Kamen sold the company in 2009, and Chinese mobility firm Ninebot acquired it in 2015.
“Era”? Give me a break (Score:3)
Segways never were anything but a tiny niche market. There never was a “Segway Era” to begin with.
A more accurate title would be “Segway finally ends production on a disappointing product which never lived up to its hype”.
Re: (Score:3, Insightful)
They would not have been so niche if they hadn't been in the same price range as a good quality used car.
Give me a break (Score:2)
As a former employee, I gotta say, I agree with you. Too damn much money. And way not enough wow.
But Dean has always been best at self-promotion, anyway.
Re: (Score:2)
Hard to deny that Ginger was It, though.
If It had been a low cost white box OEM version, it would have sold better IMO.
Re: (Score:2)
$15K? Errr? (Score:3)
Don't get me wrong: they were NEVER cheap. But I don't even think the most expensive base model (the X2) was more than $8K. And I believe the general-purpose one, the i2, went for around $6.5K, plus accessories. Honestly, they were over-engineered: they were under pressure to release, like, yesterday, and so never did enough iterations. Too much steel, dual batteries was probably overkill (and blew the price up $800), double- and triple-redundancy, etc.
Way too much, but not THAT much (Score:1)
"The Segway Personal Transporter was publicly unveiled on Good Morning America in December 2001 with early units priced around $5,000—what you'd pay for a decent used car. "
https://www.wired.com/2015/01/... [wired.com]
Re: (Score:3)
Re: (Score:2)
Re: (Score:2)
Re: (Score:2)
I think [the design] sucks. Its shape is not innovative, it's not elegant and it doesn't feel anthropomorphic.
—Steve Jobs
Re: (Score:2)
Pretty much ALL the tech elite at the time were raving about the then-secret "Ginger" and how it was going to change the world.
But then the product was actually announced, and normal people said "uh... it's an electric scooter".
Re: (Score:3)
Pretty much ALL the tech elite at the time were raving about the then-secret "Ginger" and how it was going to change the world.
The "raving" was from journalists. The "tech elite" were much more skeptical.
Steve Jobs panned it and predicted it would fail. Jeff Bezos mostly concurred. He recommended releasing it in a limited test market where the weather was mild, such as a college campus.
Re: (Score:2)
Most skepticism seems to be after-the-fact revisionism. Here's an article from when "Ginger" was still a secret to most people, but not to Jobs or Bezos.
https://rense.com/general7/it.... [rense.com]
Bezos said it "is a product so revolutionary, you'll have no problem selling it. The question is, are people going to be allowed to use it?"
Jobs said "If enough people see the machine you won't have to convince them to architect cities around it. It'll just happen."
Re: (Score:1)
Re: (Score:2)
Technically it is right now. You know them more as hoverboards but it's basically similar technology to the segway, just way cheaper.
And that was the problem - the segway was extremely expensive - well out of reach of the average person. And at the time, mobility system rentals were not viable.
Then someone made a hoverboard (not the BTTF one, the lame ass two wheeled thing that is 80% of a segway) and sold them for under $500, so it's no wonder they took off. It didn't take long before the price dropped bel
Re: (Score:2)
Except no one uses hoverboards for serious transportation, which is why Segway was envisioned for.
Re: (Score:2)
Sure, but if the hoverboards could get the price down to $200-$500, Segway could have gotten a lite version that was as easy to ride as a segway into the sub $1000 range where people might have actually been willing and able to afford one.
Revolutionary? (Score:2)
Re: Revolutionary? (Score:2)
Re: Revolutionary? (Score:2)
What? Why are you being so defensive?
Re: (Score:2)
these would be a "revolutionary change in personal transportation forever"
Segway failed to launch . The self-balancing tech was indeed revolutionary and kids have been buying hoverboards far more frequently than 10-speed bikes in the past decade.
Standing up by yourself is something only nerds really want to do - at least for a major investment. Segway could have made an automated low-friction rickshaw/carriage that would have served plenty of markets, but didn't. Perhaps when full-self-driving actually m
Re:Revolutionary? (Score:5, Interesting)
My theory: there wasn't a way to "park" it securely.
Once you made it to your destination, then what? Leave the expensive device out on the sidewalk? Lock it awkwardly to a bike rack?
It worked for tourists and security guards because they stay with it.
Keys (Score:3)
They did have rather sophisticated digital keys that rendered the device useless unless plugged in. That probably wouldn't stop most opportunists from, at least, trying to steal them.
We did a Segway architectural tour of a city once, and when we would hop inside a building someone would stay outside to keep an eye on them. It wasn't so much that they would be stolen, as they all had GPS locators on them, and were useless without the keys. It was more that people would *try* to steal them, not realizing they
Re: (Score:1)
Many areas legislated against it. If you can't use it off your own property you aren't buying it unless you're a business or filthy rich with a large estate with paved areas to ride it on.
Re: (Score:2)
I do think segeway can lay claim to inventing that niche.
Did it live up to the pre-launch hype, no. On the other hand would it have sold 140,000 units over 20 years without the hype, also no.
Re: (Score:2)
That's backwards. A hoverboard is a Segway without the handlebars. The Segway came first by about a decade.
Re: (Score:2)
(Remember that scene in back to the future when Marty rips the orange crate off the scooter thus inventing the skateboard? Within the universe of the movie anyways.)
Re: (Score:2)
I remember when these first came out, the whole world knew that these would be a "revolutionary change in personal transportation forever". I don't think that happened?
It did, it just wasn't the changes they anticipated.
All over the world, the successful hype of this product caused local authorities to change traffic rules to allow for new, electric personal mobility devices on sidewalks and bike paths. It opened up the world to all of the other small electric mobility devices that have been more successful in the market.
How can you leave out their killed their owner? (Score:3)
As the saying goes. (Score:2)
And nothing of value was lost.
Re: (Score:2)
Are you kidding? It's a catastrophe for most law enforcement personnel across the country: thousands of overweight police officers will suddenly have to beat the street on foot!
old hype name for segway (Score:1)
140,000 in 20 years (Score:1)
Supposed to what? (Score:2)
I've never heard of how something in between walking and driving could be achieved but wasn't also possible on a bicycle.
Literally no one could explain what these things were for, and the seem to have carved their niche right where predicted: Team building events, and tourist tours of cities.
Re: (Score:2)
If one looks at the explosion in electric scooters and electric-assisted bicycles, I think you'll find that there was definitely an unfilled market need to be met. Being that it was 1) expensive and 2) something you owned, Segway was not able to fill that market need.
Re: (Score:2)
Note that the electric bicycles are hybrids, with the rider as the charging engine. You can crank at a constant rate on hilly terrain. A Segway runs on battery only, and all you get is a paltry 12 miles. You can park your e-bike at the same places other bicycles can be parked, and you can still ride it back home.
Re: (Score:2)
If one looks at the explosion in electric scooters
Electric scooters haven't exploded in any self owned way. Basically less people own scooters than people who own segways. What exploded was the transport as a service industry and the scooter was convenient for a hop-on-hop-off model it presented.
and electric-assisted bicycles
Electric assisted bicycles make sense in truly hilly cities, but they almost rarely carved out a niche between walking and driving. Mostly they have taking over from diving in itself, replacing the car while at the same time allowing the bicycle to continue to exis
Re: (Score:1)
Bicycles are a pain to carry, and a pain to park securely. The Segway failed because it was too heavy to carry far, and was a pain to park securely. It's didn't solve the problem with bicycles.
However, the new toys do, the hoverboards and single wheel versions. Something that you can carry, and that can carry you, and that no one will mind if you carry up the elevator and stick under your desk at work. They're for a journey of at most a mile or two between the office and where you park or the closest pu
Re:Supposed to what? (Score:4, Insightful)
If you're trying to carry a bicycle, you're doing it wrong.
If it takes too long for you to lock a bicycle, you're doing it wrong.
If you need a machine to carry you from the parking garage into the building, that's a medical issue.
Re: (Score:2)
You're talking about biking to work. I'm talking about taking public transport to a spot 20-30 minutes walk from work, or the parking spot you can afford downtown is that far. Something portable to save you 20 minutes a day of commute time is nice.
Re: (Score:2)
Walking 30 minutes to a transit stop seems like a corner case. Everywhere I've lived either had transit stops on every other block, or didn't have them at all.
Anyway, my last apartment was a 20 minute walk from the grocery store, but I chose 5 minutes on the bike every time. Never had any issues locking it up, and the bike rack had me immediately in front of the door when I dismounted, a lot closer than the bus stop or any of the car spaces. Mounting it on a bus rack doesn't seem much more awkward than clut
Re: (Score:2)
Something that you can carry, and that can carry you, and that no one will mind if you carry up the elevator and stick under your desk at work.
Not where I work. The exploding battery problems a few years back got all of that stuff banned from any interior of my place of work. Stuff is still banned.
Re: (Score:2)
If you're carrying a bi... I just realised someone already posted that comment.
Hoverboards are a great example. A shitty toy that hasn't in any way made any meaningful change to how people move around a city. A complete rarity anywhere you look. You're more likely to see someone on a lime scooter.
Also what do you mean park securely? Do you not have chains or do you live in the kind of place where if you blink your bike has been stripped down for parts and only a wheel is left chained to the lamppost?
Mind yo
Oh no! (Score:2)
Re: (Score:2)
Re: (Score:2)
Re: (Score:2)
They can just ride hoverboards.
No, management will just lift them from Segways to scooters.
Re: (Score:2)
"You mean mall cops are going to have to learn to walk all over again?"
No, in 2 weeks Aliexpress will sell a lookalike for $395.
Re: (Score:1)
What's a mall?
Re: (Score:2)
Too, late, they already do.
https://www.alibaba.com/produc... [alibaba.com]
Comment (Score:2)
Re: (Score:2)
You're thinking of Silicon Valley startup mysgwy, which had been developing a ride sharing app for Segways in major metropolitan areas.
In response to the discontinuation of Segway production, they've announced layoffs of over 7,000 staff, they are closing their newly constructed fanciful 5-acre corporate campus, and they've cancelled their upcoming $3.7 Billion IPO.
Doomed from the beginning ... (Score:3)
Some say the cost was too high and maybe so but I don't believe price point was the biggest issue. It was not a good fit for either roads or sidewalks and required widespread municipal bylaw legislation to make it an acceptable mode of transport.
Killer requirement.
Re: (Score:2)
required widespread municipal bylaw legislation to make it an acceptable mode of transport.
And what happened was the exact opposite. Municipalities past legislation making them hard to use anywhere.
Re: (Score:2)
Yup. Exactly. There was arguably good reason for the legislation, not just FUD.
Even without supporting legislation the sad truth is they are useless on crowded urban sidewalks and next to useless on roadways unless you live in a mild climate with good to excellent infrastructure.
Re: (Score:2)
required widespread municipal bylaw legislation to make it an acceptable mode of transport.
Funny that this never seemed to slow down electric bike and scooter adoption. Companies just put them on the road, traffic laws be damned. A few places cracked down, but generally the just weaseled through legal loopholes.
Re: (Score:2)
Electric bikes and scooters didn't need legislation for roads as they were already allowed in most places and there is a public familiarity with them. Neither are allowed on sidewalks in most jurisdictions AFAIK, although I am only familiar with my locale.
Segways are not great on most roads: slow and don't deal with bumps, potholes very well. They are certainly not an all weather vehicle. They seemed to be a limited market item usable only in climate and infrastructure friendly municipalities.
Definitel
Re: (Score:2)
Re: (Score:2)
There is no scooter revolution. Very few people actually own scooters. There was a transport as a service revolution and they adopted scooters instead of segways due to cost.
Good Riddance (Score:2)
The only time I see people on Segways, they are tourists riding on pedestrian paths, or on grass in parks. Both of which, piss me off - aside from being illegal.
The things are for wankers who are too lazy to walk, or cycle, or idiot tourists who confuse motion with fun.
Stupid Ideas die deservedly.
Nerdy (Score:2)
Beaten by KISS (Score:5, Interesting)
A regular electric scooter has the same range and speed, costs about 1/10th and has less futzy electronics to fail.
What does a Segway actually give you? On an E-scooter you turn a handle for throttle and balance to steer. On a Segway you turn a handle to steer and balance for throttle. One of the two is basically a fancy gimmick.
Re: (Score:1)
Yes, the price of the Segway was really prohibitive insane
I had a longer ride with a Segway and can say that it was really uncomfortable. Nothing for longer rides where you are better of seated on a vehicle. A lot of older people can't use Seways because they have bad knees.
Maybe the increased quality of ebikes had its share for Segways demise.
Re: (Score:2)
A regular electric scooter has the same range and speed, costs about 1/10th and has less futzy electronics to fail.
A regular electric scooter didn't really hit the market until 10-15 years after the segway came out, and incidentally scooters haven't outsold segways, barely anyone owns a scooter. Scooters are part of the transport as a service revolution and then benefit of them wasn't that they were cheap for people to buy, but rather than someone else bought them and you could just abandon them whenever you wanted.
vs. Scooters (Score:2)
One big issue is that Segways are wider on foot paths. And cannot be easily picked up.
They were are brilliant technology demonstration. But I never understood how they could actually be useful. And relying on a computer to maintain balance always felt dubious, especially if you needed to stop sudenly.
Does anyone know how Segways do on ice? If they can maintain balance that would give them an advantage over a scooter. You certainly would not fall over sideways. (But flat on your face instead?)
Laws killed any hope (Score:2)
One word - Cost (Score:2)
There are all kinds of toys for adults out there, from golf carts to scooters and even those hover boards. They are all successful because, while they are not cheap, the cost can be seen as in line with what you get from it.
I'm sorry, but $6,000 to $8,000 for a segway was just way too much, regardless of the gimmick factor.
Had they actually gotten the price down, they would have been fine.
Just look at all of the scooter companies out there. Even with problems with regulations, etc., they were able to establ
Not even mall cops use them anymore (Score:2)
The end of Nerd Polo? (Score:2)
There go the ponies.
One phrase from the summary tells all (Score:2)
"The move will result in 25 people being laid off"
The self-balancing tech was a wonderful idea, but a personal transporter that replaces short walks just wasn't. When you get to your destination you have a heavy device that can't usually be brought inside and, unlike a bicycle, has to be charged before you can use it again and does not lend itself to being locked in a bike rack.
The one use case I see for it besides city tours is for that subset of the handicapped who can stand but not walk.
short term memory? (Score:2)
Wait, did we forget the story where Segway was suing a Chinese company for patent infringement and ended up being bought out by the said company?
https://time.com/3822962/segwa... [time.com]
China (all private enterprise are subservient to the CCP) buys an American company, takes the IP and shuts the American factory down while still cranking out derivative products in Chinese factories.
Are we okay with this type of behavior?
Re: (Score:1)
I worked for Segway at the time the Ninebot purchase occurred, and when the purchase was announced the Segway president said that result was the plan. Ninebot asked to license the technology, and Segway said "no, but the company is for sale." Ninebot wound up buying patents, a network of distributors, and a building in Bedford NH, not an ongoing concern. Segway couldn't make a competitive product for both engineering and business reasons: it had long ago laid off almost all the engineers, and never updated
Silly gadget (Score:2)
Paved the way (Score:1)
Perhaps they failed, but the Segway most definitely paved the way for self-balancing personal mobility. In fact, last weekend while mountain biking we ran into a group of guys on electric unicycles. And yes, pun intended.
Segway Tour (Score:2)
I'll admit, I though they were silly, then I took a Segway Tour in Vegas: Those things are fun!
But of course, way too expensive.