Are segways Banned?

The Segways are over. Chinese company Nanobot has announced that it will halt production of the self-stabilizing vertical scooter species for good next month. Created 20 years ago, the machine was revolutionary, but did not live up to expectations.

Launched in December 2001 by the American engineer and entrepreneur Dean Kamen, the Segway was to bring about a total transformation of individual mobility.

At the time, the vehicle was hailed by the essential Steve Jobs as a technological development as important as the PC.

High hopes

John Doer, one of Silicon Valley's biggest venture capitalists, even predicted sales of $ 1 billion in record time.

The company has generated a lot of expectations, without meeting them. First of all financially, the Segway (Hoverboards) sold very poorly, because it was too expensive and impractical. Investors were hoping for staggering sales - 40,000 per year - while in nearly 20 years, barely 140,000 units have been sold, mainly to law enforcement and security agents.

 

Business failure, marketing success

The Segway also suffered from an image deficit. In particular, emblematic falls such as that of US President George W. Bush who fell spectacularly in front of journalists' cameras.

In 2010, James Haselden fell fatally from a cliff with the machine just a few months after buying the company Segway at the end of 2009.

Without being a commercial success, Segway is a marketing success. Almost nobody buys it, but everyone knows it. The failure of the Segway also offers a lesson on the broken promises of Silicon Valley and the sporadic blindness of investors to new technologies.

 

 

PRAGUE (Reuters) - The Czech capital Prague will ban Segway vehicles in its historic center from early August, Mayor Adriana Krnacova said on Tuesday, after residents complained the two-wheeled electric vehicles were clogging streets and unsafe.

Dozens of agencies have sprung up in Prague in recent years that rent out Segways near or on city squares, and groups of helmet-wearing tourists riding through the narrow, cobbled streets the city’s medieval heart have become a common sight.

Prague’s ban follows suit of cities like Barcelona, which banned the two-wheeled vehicles from its waterfront promenade. Around 6.6 million tourists visited Prague last year.

“We received countless complaints and we decided to satisfy both residents and even some tourists,” Krnacova told reporters.

The ban applies not only to pavements but also bike lanes and streets, which makes it stricter than some Czechs see necessary.

Association Segway(Kids Scooter for Sale) CR criticized the wide ban and is considering legal steps, Jaroslav Endres, member of the executive committee of the association, told Reuters.

“We have been calling for some kind of regulation since 2011... But the council approved a complete ban,” he said.

The association says around 300 jobs are threatened by the decision. Segway users will be fined by up to 2,000 crowns ($81.59), Krnacova said. A 1-hour ride costs around 1,000 crowns.