5 ms·

Nobody seems to remember how the Segway was going to change our world, backed by many of the VC power figures at the time + Steve Jobs.

klik99 2y ago
In Segways defense that self balancing tech has made and will continue to make an impact, just not world changing amount (at least not yet) and not their particular company but the companies they influenced - the same may end up true about openai
hanspeter 2y ago
I think we all remember, and if we forget, we're reminded every time we see them at airports or doing city tours.
- Calavar 2y ago
  I don't think I've seen a Segway in close to ten years. Also I suspect most people under 25 have never even heard of Segway.
  - elif 2y ago
    One wheels (Segway evolutionary grandchild) are almost as popular as electric skateboards.
    - 9dev 2y ago
      So… not much? If anything, people drive electric scooters around here. Those seem to hit the sweet spot.
stolenmerch 2y ago
I remember serious discussions about how we'd probably need to repave all of our sidewalks in the US to accommodate the Segway
elif 2y ago
You mean Steve Wozniak. Close but no LSD
- favorited 2y ago
  Steve Jobs said that Segways had the potential to be "as big a deal as the PC."
- pantalaimon 2y ago
  What makes you so sure about the LSD?
- pinewurst 2y ago
  https://www.theguardian.com/world/2001/dec/04/engineering.highereducation https://www.theguardian.com/world/2001/dec/04/engineering.hi... "Steve Jobs, Apple's co-founder, predicted that in future cities would be designed around the device, while Jeff Bezos, founder of Amazon, also backed the project publicly and financially."
dghlsakjg 2y ago
The Segway was a bit early, and too expensive, but I would defend it... sort of. Electric micromobility is a pretty huge driver of how people negotiate the modern city. Self-balancing segways, e-skate, e-bike and scooters are all pretty big changes that we are seeing in many modern cityscapes. Hell, a shared electric bike was just used as a getaway vehicle for an assassination in NYC.
- jpalawaga 2y ago
  e-/bikes and e-/scooters are big changes to city navigation. e-skate and segways are non-factors. And that's the difference between a good product (ebike or even just plain old bikeshare) and a bad one (segway).
- numpad0 2y ago
  Segway is just an electric pizza delivery bike _that don't look like one_. That's it. The Segway City is just electric Ho Chi Minh 1995 in style of 2000 Chicago. People wants to die in style so much that they turn blind eyes to plasticky scooters and Nissan Leafs. To them, the ugly attempt don't exist, and the reskinned clones are the first evers in the history. But reality prevails. Brits aren't flying EE Lightning jets anymore. Segways were kind of cool to me too, to be fair. To lesser extent Lime scooters too. Sort of. But they're still just sideways pizza bikes.
arthurcolle 2y ago
It reappeared as e-bikes and e-scooters - Lime, Bird, etc.
- anothertroll123 2y ago
  No it didn't
- ldbooth 2y ago
  Reappeared as Electric unicycles, which look hilarious, dangerous, and like a lot of fun.
- bee_rider 2y ago
  Apparently the first e-bike was invented in 1895. So I don’t think it is accurate to give Segway too much credit in their creation. Anyway the innovation of Segway was the balance system, which e-bikes don’t need. (I’m not familiar with the site in general, but I think there’s no reason for them to lie about the date, and electric vehicles always show up surprisingly early). https://reallygoodebikes.com/blogs/electric-bike-blog/history-of-electric-bikes https://reallygoodebikes.com/blogs/electric-bike-blog/histor...
- n144q 2y ago
  None of which is doing great.
  - tim333 2y ago
    There are about 70 lime bikes that commute to the square by my flat. There's definitely some ebike stuff ongoing.
  - danenania 2y ago
    E-bikes are everywhere.
- RockyMcNuts 2y ago
  more as hoverboard, onewheel etc. the e-bikes and e-scooters don't really have similar balancing mechanisms
mbreese 2y ago
The hype cycle for Segway was insane. Ginger (code name) wasn’t just going to change the world, it was going to cause us to rethink how cities were laid out and designed. No one would get around the world in the same way. The engineering behind it was really quite nice, but the hype set it up to fail. If it hasn’t been talked up so much in the media, the launch wouldn’t have felt so flat. There was no way for them to live up to the hype.
- pinewurst 2y ago
  The "Code Name: Ginger" book, by a writer embedded with the team, is excellent btw.
- tim333 2y ago
  I guess it depends on what media you follow. As a Brit my recollection was hearing it was a novelty gadget that about a dozen American eccentrics were using, and then there was the story that a guy called Jimi Heselden bought the company and killed himself by driving one off a cliff and then that was about it. Not the same category as AI at all.
  - qingcharles 2y ago
    I was in the tech space in the UK at the time and the hype behind this was off the charts. I seem to remember a meeting with Bezos where he was super hyped about it, and we had no idea what "it" was still. The speculation was crazy.

klik99 2y ago

In Segways defense that self balancing tech has made and will continue to make an impact, just not world changing amount (at least not yet) and not their particular company but the companies they influenced - the same may end up true about openai

hanspeter 2y ago

I think we all remember, and if we forget, we're reminded every time we see them at airports or doing city tours.

Calavar 2y ago
I don't think I've seen a Segway in close to ten years. Also I suspect most people under 25 have never even heard of Segway.
- elif 2y ago
  One wheels (Segway evolutionary grandchild) are almost as popular as electric skateboards.
  - 9dev 2y ago
    So… not much? If anything, people drive electric scooters around here. Those seem to hit the sweet spot.

stolenmerch 2y ago

I remember serious discussions about how we'd probably need to repave all of our sidewalks in the US to accommodate the Segway

elif 2y ago

You mean Steve Wozniak. Close but no LSD

favorited 2y ago
Steve Jobs said that Segways had the potential to be "as big a deal as the PC."
pantalaimon 2y ago
What makes you so sure about the LSD?
pinewurst 2y ago
https://www.theguardian.com/world/2001/dec/04/engineering.highereducation https://www.theguardian.com/world/2001/dec/04/engineering.hi... "Steve Jobs, Apple's co-founder, predicted that in future cities would be designed around the device, while Jeff Bezos, founder of Amazon, also backed the project publicly and financially."

dghlsakjg 2y ago

The Segway was a bit early, and too expensive, but I would defend it... sort of. Electric micromobility is a pretty huge driver of how people negotiate the modern city. Self-balancing segways, e-skate, e-bike and scooters are all pretty big changes that we are seeing in many modern cityscapes. Hell, a shared electric bike was just used as a getaway vehicle for an assassination in NYC.

jpalawaga 2y ago
e-/bikes and e-/scooters are big changes to city navigation. e-skate and segways are non-factors. And that's the difference between a good product (ebike or even just plain old bikeshare) and a bad one (segway).
numpad0 2y ago
Segway is just an electric pizza delivery bike _that don't look like one_. That's it. The Segway City is just electric Ho Chi Minh 1995 in style of 2000 Chicago. People wants to die in style so much that they turn blind eyes to plasticky scooters and Nissan Leafs. To them, the ugly attempt don't exist, and the reskinned clones are the first evers in the history. But reality prevails. Brits aren't flying EE Lightning jets anymore. Segways were kind of cool to me too, to be fair. To lesser extent Lime scooters too. Sort of. But they're still just sideways pizza bikes.

arthurcolle 2y ago

It reappeared as e-bikes and e-scooters - Lime, Bird, etc.

anothertroll123 2y ago
No it didn't
ldbooth 2y ago
Reappeared as Electric unicycles, which look hilarious, dangerous, and like a lot of fun.
bee_rider 2y ago
Apparently the first e-bike was invented in 1895. So I don’t think it is accurate to give Segway too much credit in their creation. Anyway the innovation of Segway was the balance system, which e-bikes don’t need. (I’m not familiar with the site in general, but I think there’s no reason for them to lie about the date, and electric vehicles always show up surprisingly early). https://reallygoodebikes.com/blogs/electric-bike-blog/history-of-electric-bikes https://reallygoodebikes.com/blogs/electric-bike-blog/histor...
n144q 2y ago
None of which is doing great.
- tim333 2y ago
  There are about 70 lime bikes that commute to the square by my flat. There's definitely some ebike stuff ongoing.
- danenania 2y ago
  E-bikes are everywhere.
RockyMcNuts 2y ago
more as hoverboard, onewheel etc. the e-bikes and e-scooters don't really have similar balancing mechanisms

mbreese 2y ago

The hype cycle for Segway was insane. Ginger (code name) wasn’t just going to change the world, it was going to cause us to rethink how cities were laid out and designed. No one would get around the world in the same way. The engineering behind it was really quite nice, but the hype set it up to fail. If it hasn’t been talked up so much in the media, the launch wouldn’t have felt so flat. There was no way for them to live up to the hype.

pinewurst 2y ago
The "Code Name: Ginger" book, by a writer embedded with the team, is excellent btw.
tim333 2y ago
I guess it depends on what media you follow. As a Brit my recollection was hearing it was a novelty gadget that about a dozen American eccentrics were using, and then there was the story that a guy called Jimi Heselden bought the company and killed himself by driving one off a cliff and then that was about it. Not the same category as AI at all.
- qingcharles 2y ago
  I was in the tech space in the UK at the time and the hype behind this was off the charts. I seem to remember a meeting with Bezos where he was super hyped about it, and we had no idea what "it" was still. The speculation was crazy.