Segway Products
Well, first there was the original. IT, or Code Name Ginger, was renamed the PT and released at the beginning of December 2001 on the show Good Morning America. Notable features of this product line (e167, i167, i170/180, XT/GT, p133) included sudden unwanted changes of direction that would cause a person to fly off at high speed to certain death…or at least at low speed, to certain embarrassment. While that might create business for a social security disability lawyer, it probably won’t help sales very much.
Segway Inc. was actually sold in 2010, about a year after they’d hooked up with GM to develop the PUMA Project, a fully-enclosed two-seater with many Segway features. This turned into the EN-V, which promises such tantalizing features as GPS crash-avoidance (ultimately driving itself) and integrated social networking so that you’ll be able to more efficiently and stylishly waste time while not driving your vehicle.
Aside from issues regarding folks getting used to the handling requirements (probably not so hard for teens and young adults, possibly a bit more complicated for the middle aged), there are legal considerations when you have a vehicle that can cause harm to property and harm to other humans if things go awry. Don’t want to be seen as a party pooper here, but have these important considerations been made by the powers that be – we think there’s some changes coming from problems we didn’t even realize were associated with something sold to us as simple and safe.
On the plus side, it can actually zoom down the road at a white-knuckle 35mph with a range of about 35 miles (check my math…is that about one hour’s worth at top speed? It would be, if you didn’t use more power at top speed, which you almost certainly will. So this begs the question: how slow do you need to be going to get that 35 mile range, and wouldn’t you be better off walking or biking anyway? Just wondering…).