Segway's new e-skates are probably a terrible idea

Today, Segway announced a new product, and wow is it a treat. The Segway Drift W1 is a pair of e-skates using the balancing technology the company is well-known for. The skates promise to bring all the "coolness" that you can expect from the Segway line, which quite frankly isn't saying much.

The Segway Drift W1s look about as fantastically nerdy as you'd expect. They're black and white and advertised in the release as small, lightweight and easy to carry. We don't have any details on specs yet, but you can see how they perform in the video below.

The main question that these e-skates bring to mind is safety. Specifically, how can they keep the kids who love those annoying sneakers with wheels built in (who will likely be really interested in these) from going too fast and cracking their heads open? As previously mentioned, Segway has incorporated its balance technology into these skates (and makes it clear it takes safety seriously in the release), but that can only go so far if the idea behind the entire product is questionably safe (hello, hoverboards!) It doesn't help that there don't appear to be any straps that secure you to the product, which will help if they go haywire and you need to jump off. But doesn't that also make it easier to fall off, and therefore commence with afore mentioned head cracking?

We don't have pricing or availability information for the Segway Drift W1s, though these aren't the only e-skates coming to market. InMotion's HoverShoes X1 retail for $499, and you can pre-order them for delivery in late July. And we can't forget about the even better looking RocketSkates, which you can still apparently buy for $99.

Source: Segway



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