Dean Kamen on Segway

Dean Kamen, the inventor of the Segway, talks at TED on his vision for his invention.



The talk is rather outdated (Feb. 2002) but he raises some interesting points:

• We've solved all the world's transportation problem except for the "last mile." Cars, trains, ships, planes have all made the world a smaller place, but in order to go four city blocks, you still have to walk (or drive, which is horribly inefficient), something the Greeks did. He curiously ignores bicycles in his talk however.
• The "50% urban population" is a major driver for him, but like everyone else, he misuses the statistic conveying the world is becoming more and more like Manhattan or central San Francisco.
• He discusses how the existing law does not cater to the use of the Segway on sidewalks and how laws are always a generation behind technology. However, I can't imagine Segways going 10+ miles per hour sharing the sidewalks either (bike lanes seems ideal).
• Apparently they had a test market in Atlanta to see if Segway could rejuvenate that city center. I don't know what happened to it but it might be interesting to look up.