This transport vehicle experienced many mishaps for a poor success, which accelerated its end.
It remains a forerunner of “personal motorized travel devices”. Launched in 2001, long before electric scooters and other vehicles of this type, the Segway brand Segway is now in its final stages. Indeed, Segway Inc will no longer manufacture the machine from July 15 to focus on other activities. The shutdown of this production will result in 21 layoffs at the Bedford plant in New Hamphire. 12 stations are however maintained to provide after-sales service for models on the market.
Since its launch, this vehicle has not been able to find a loyal following. Evidenced by these figures, quoted by Les Échos: 140,000 machines sold in almost 20 years. Its ambitious creator, Dean Kamen, planned to sell 100,000 in the first year. Finally, it is mainly tourism professionals who purchased this product, as we sometimes see in large parks or museums. Many police brigades around the world also use this means of transport. Its weight, around 50 kilos, on the other hand dissuaded conventional users who today prefer electric scooters or hoverboards, for example.
In nearly 20 years, the Segway adventure remains marked above all by numerous misadventures. Filmed fall of President George W. Bush, famous fall of a cameraman jostled by sprinter Usain Bolt in 2015, as Reuters reminds us and, to darken the picture even more, death of the owner of the company in the early 2010s, of a ride on his machine. Five years ago, the Segway Inc. company was bought by Ninebot Inc, a Chinese robotics company, which ensures that the Segways now only represent 1.5% of turnover.
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SOURCE: https://www.w24news.com
