It's Not a Car, It's a Self-Balancing Electric Motorcycle (Video)

Two gyros under the seat keep this vehicle standing up at a stop, which is easier on the driver's legs than putting a foot down the way you do while riding most motorcycles. And no vroom-vroom sound, either. This is an electric motorcycle. The prototype you see in the video gets up to around 20 MPH, but production models are supposed to hit 100 MPH, and go as far as a Tesla S on 1/6 the juice. So little tiny batteries are all the Lit C-1 needs to drive (up to) 200 miles with the gyros spinning merrily away -- keeping the C-1 upright even in crashes, as a simulation in this Lit Motors YouTube video shows. They claim to have more than 200 pre-orders against a projected retail price of $24,000, which is not shabby for a company that hasn't made a single production vehicle so far. (Alternate Video Link)

Comments

Re:Guaranteed Death

[Arker]

"Deaths divided by serious injuries is a nonsensical metric."

No metric can really be nonsensical in and of itself, what's nonsensical is to use a metric that does not relate to the context.

In this case,  the context has to do with a claim of 'guaranteed death' in an accident with a car. So deaths divided by serious injuries actually doesnt look like nonsense. It's a proxy for 'deaths vs non-fatal outcomes in accidents with cars.' Which does not appear to be immediately available.

"Hint: Go find the total miles driven in cars and motorcycles."

That would be a better metric of generalised safety, but it seems to have little relevance to the claim of 'guaranteed death.'