Segway 2-wheeled transporter to go away

Segway, the self-balancing two-wheeled "personal transporter" once pitched as more revolutionary than the personal computer, will cease production in July.

The company holds about 1,000 patents for self-balancing technologies now used in electric scooters, wheelchairs and hoverboards, but Segway's sales never met expectations.

Beijing-based Ninebot bought Segway in 2015. Terms of the deal weren't disclosed, but the company said it received $80 million in funding from US investment firm Sequoia Capital and Chinese smartphone maker Xiaomi to complete the deal.

When launched in 2001, the company hoped to sell as many as 100,000 the first year. But sales for what Segway called the "ultimate urban transport" totaled only about 140,000 over two decades, or around 7,000 per year.

"Within its first decade, the Segway PT became a staple in security and law enforcement, viewed as an effective and efficient personal vehicle," said Judy Cai, Segway's president, in a statement.

"The decision (to halt production) was not made lightly, and while the current global pandemic did impact sales and production, it was not a deciding factor in our decision."

Manufacture of the device in Bedford, New Hampshire, will end July 15. Twenty-one employees will be laid off, but 12 will remain on the payroll temporarily to handle repairs covered by warranties.

The latest Segway model provided a range of 38 miles (61 km) per battery charge and a top speed of 12.5 mph (20 km/h).

The original $5,000 price tag for the Segway was too steep for many, and users often found the device unsteady.

Many riders couldn't master the standing angle needed to make the device move forward. If the rider's weight shifted too much in any direction, the Segway could spin out of control and toss the user to the pavement.

Former US president George W. Bush took a tumble in June 2003 at his family's summer home in Kennebunkport, Maine. He wasn't injured, but photos of the pratfall were published widely in newspapers.

The company's former British owner wasn't so lucky. Jimi Heselden, 62, careened off a 40-foot cliff while riding a Segway near his estate in West Yorkshire, England, just 10 months after buying the company in 2010.

A police investigation concluded that Heselden died following an "act of courtesy" as he backed up to avoid a dog walker on a narrow footpath above a river, the BBC reported.

In 2015, a cameraman riding a Segway hit Jamaican sprinter Usain Bolt as he took a victory lap after winning a 200-meter race in Beijing. Bolt wasn't injured and joked about the mishap.

Instead of becoming ubiquitous, many cities banned the Segway.

The manufacturer pitched the Segway as the epitome of cool, but a 2009 slapstick comedy trampled that image.

Paul Blart: Mall Cop and its sequel centered on an obese security guard at a New Jersey shopping mall who foiled bad guys, defended honor and romanced a salesclerk while riding a Segway outfitted with a flashing emergency beacon.

Segway founder Dean Kamen, who made his fortune in medical technology, said the Segway would be "to the car what the car was to the horse and buggy" when he unveiled the device.

His team previously developed a wheelchair that can climb stairs. The engineers realized that the self-balancing gyroscopes also could be used in a recreational device to zip individuals around town.

But the design didn't evolve, and little has changed since the Segway was introduced in 2001.

In Steve Kemper's book, Code Name Ginger: The Story Behind Segway and Dean Kamen's Quest to Invent a New World, the author paraphrases Steve Jobs, then Apple's CEO, as saying:

"Its shape isn't innovative, it's not elegant, it doesn't feel anthropomorphic," underscoring his design principles that built Apple into an industry leader. "You have this incredibly innovative machine, but it looks very traditional."

Both electric scooters and traditional kick-powered models appear to have succeeded in capturing market share where the Segway failed.

The National Association of City Transportation Officials said riders took 38.5 million trips on shared electric scooters on 2018.

Segway-branded models range in price from $399 to $1,799 — but no one today claims they will change the world.