DailyDirt: Personal Mobility Hasn't Been Perfected Yet...

from the urls-we-dig-up dept

Thu, Aug 27th 2015 5:00pm — Michael Ho

There are more ways to get around than ever before. We have cars, buses, trains, planes, bikes, scooters, motorcycles, electric skateboards, electric unicycles, inline skates, roller shoes, and all kinds of wacky devices to move people along sidewalks and around cities. Each of these methods of transportation has its strengths and weaknesses, and it doesn't look like there's a one-size-fits-all solution on the horizon. If you're interested in rideables and other transportation innovations, check out a few of these links.

Be careful on electric skateboards controlled by bluetooth wireless remotes. Bad guys could seize control of your board and send you straight into traffic. Attacks called FacePlant and Road Rash take advantage of the wireless controls, but that also means your attackers need to have a transmitter located within a certain distance of your board. Maybe these aren't as serious as some car hijacking attacks, but nobody wants to die needlessly on an expensive skateboard. [url]
WalkCar is a strange-looking personal transporter with four tiny wheels and a 7-mile range when fully charged. It could be mistaken for a bathroom scale on luggage wheels, and it seems to occupy the same market niche as other rideables. [url]
Everyone seems to want to hate on the Segway Personal Transporter. Segways weren't exactly a commercial success, but the idea of getting people out of cars and onto smaller vehicles might still be revolutionary... someday. [url]
Electric scooters that you use as a service (Zipcar for scooters?) could be an interesting way to reduce road traffic. Scoot makes such a scooter service, and replacing car traffic with scooter traffic could be a slightly helpful. [url]

After you've finished checking out those links, take a look at our Daily Deals for cool gadgets and other awesome stuff.

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Filed Under: electric skateboards, personal mobility, personal transporter, scooter, segway, transportation
Companies: scoot, walkcar, zipcar

15 Comments

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Anon, 27 Aug 2015 @ 6:12pm

range increase
Looks like the range on these things is about to increase by 35%:
http://nextbigfuture.com/2015/08/samsung-unveils-higher-capacity-lithium.html
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Anonymous Coward, 27 Aug 2015 @ 6:53pm

Segways are like [ ]. They're both fun to ride, and might significantly enhance your life if you were to embrace them ... but it's still kind of scary when your friends see you with one.
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GuestGuess, 27 Aug 2015 @ 7:03pm

Bolt
http://i.imgur.com/VbejlVh.gifv
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P. Orin Zack, 27 Aug 2015 @ 10:34pm

Prior Art?
In "The Wizard of Speed and Time", Mike Jittlov rode what looked like a motorized attache case. No special effects involved, just ingenuity.
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Rabbit80 (profile), 28 Aug 2015 @ 1:03am

The WalkCar..
Looks good and I want one.. but with the state of the footpaths and roads around here I would be constantly dodging potholes - it could be quite nasty if you hit one with wheels that small!
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Rekrul, 28 Aug 2015 @ 1:51am

The other day I saw a guy riding what looked like a miniature Segway with no handle. Just a base and two wheels. I think it's been mentioned in a past DailyDirt, but I'm too lazy to look it up.

The one problem with all these personal mobility devices is that they're only practical in fair weather. You really can't use them in the pouring rain or snow, and you wouldn't want to use them when it's freezing out, or during a heat wave. When the conditions out are less than optimal, it makes sense to have the protection of a car.
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Anonymous Coward, 28 Aug 2015 @ 7:38am

Re:
Apart from a heatwave, weather conditions can be dealt with by wearing the appropriate clothing. I will admit that ice and snow can be a problem for people moving about, but then they are a problem if you are driving a car.
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John Fenderson (profile), 28 Aug 2015 @ 8:00am

Re: Re:
Even with appropriate clothing, being out in the pouring rain/hail/snow sucks mightily. It sucks even more if you have to wear a clean, dry uniform of some sort where you're going.
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nasch (profile), 28 Aug 2015 @ 10:24am

Re:
but it's still kind of scary when your friends see you with one.

You're scared they might be super jealous?
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nasch (profile), 28 Aug 2015 @ 10:27am

Re:
The other day I saw a guy riding what looked like a miniature Segway with no handle. Just a base and two wheels.

Saw one of those at Seattle Center and then saw the same thing but with one wheel! I had never seen or heard of such a thing. The guy was standing on little platforms on either side of the wheel and apparently controlling in by leaning just like these other devices.
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Anonymous Coward, 28 Aug 2015 @ 1:52pm

Re: Re: Re:
When snow, rain or fog get really bad it sucks to be out in anything more fragile than an M1 Abrams, as many drivers seem to think that they can drive at the same speed as they always do.
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JoeCool (profile), 28 Aug 2015 @ 10:46pm

Re: Re:
Found a picture of that - cool invention!

http://i.imgur.com/y6CHJ7x.jpg
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nasch (profile), 29 Aug 2015 @ 9:30am

Re: Re: Re:
Found a picture of that - cool invention!

Ha ha, that's it!
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JoeCool (profile), 29 Aug 2015 @ 10:53pm

Re: Re: Re: Re:
Well, to be serious, I imagine you saw the SoloWheel:

http://www.neatorama.com/2011/03/01/the-solowheel/

which does look cool as hell. Now you too can pretend to be Thor from BC. :)
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Michael Ho (profile), 31 Aug 2015 @ 5:08pm

Re:
We did cover the Solowheel not that long ago

https://www.techdirt.com/articles/20100801/21554410442/dailydirt-zipping-around-fewer-wheels.shtm l
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