Segway Inc.
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| Type | Electric vehicle |
|---|---|
| Wheels | Two |
| Inventor | Dean Kamen |
| Introduced | 2001 |
| Chief Engineer | Doug Field |
| Dynamics Engineers | David Robinson John Morrell Jon Stevens Jon Pompa |
| Programmers | Chuck Herscovici Gerry Rigdon Michael Kaufman Eric Pribyl Jim Dattalo |
| Electrical Engineers | Phil Lemay Mike Gansler JD Heinzmann Jason Sachs Larry Liberman Chris Kastel Zeta Electronics |
| Mechanical Engineers | Ron Reich Ray DeBruin Mike Slate JR Hoell |
| Industrial Designers | Scott Waters Tao Chang |
| Owner | Ninebot Inc. |
Segway Inc. of New Hampshire, USA, is the manufacturer of a two-wheeled, self-balancing electric vehicle, the Segway PT, invented by Dean Kamen. The name "Segway" is a homophone of "segue" (a smooth transition, literally Italian for "follows").
Segways have had success in niche markets such as transportation for police departments, military bases, warehouses, corporate campuses and industrial sites. The legal roadworthiness of the Segway varies with different jurisdictions' classification of the device as a motor vehicle.
The Segway was unveiled December 3, 2001, following months of public speculation, in Bryant Park, New York City, on the ABC News morning program Good Morning America and first produced in 2002.
The first owners of Segway Inc. were Dean Kamen and venture capitalists. A few years after production and sale of the Segway had begun, Dean Kamen gave up control of the company to the private investors.
The Segway PT was known by the names Ginger and IT (pronounced "") before it was unveiled. Ginger came out of the first product that used Kamen's balancing technology, the iBOT wheelchair. During development at the University of Plymouth, in conjunction with BAE Systems and Sumitomo Precision Products, the iBot was nicknamed Fred Upstairs (after Fred Astaire) because it can climb stairs: hence the name Ginger, after Astaire's regular film partner, Ginger Rogers, for a successor product.
The invention, development, and financing of the Segway was the subject of a narrative nonfiction book, Code Name Ginger (in paperback as Reinventing the Wheel), by journalist Steve Kemper. The leak of information from that book led to rampant and hyperbolic speculation about the "IT" device prior to release. The speculation created an unexpected advance buzz about the then-unknown product that was, at times, hyperbolic. John Doerr speculated that it would be more important than the Internet. Bezos was quoted that "...Cities will be built around this device." Articles were written in major publications speculating on it being a Stirling engine.South Park devoted an episode to making fun of the hype before the product was released.
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