Japanese Engineer Develops 'WalkCar,' a Mini-Segway

rtoz writes: A Japanese engineer has developed a portable transporter small enough to be carried in a backpack that he says is the world's first 'car in a bag'. The lithium battery-powered "WalkCar" device is the size of a laptop and resembles a skateboard more than a car. According to the Reuters report, the slender WalkCar is made from aluminum and weighs between two and three kilograms , depending on whether it is an indoor or outdoor version. The aluminum board and can take loads of up to 120kg., and it reaches top speeds of 10 kilometers per hour, for distances of up to 12 kilometers after three hours of charging. When a rider stands on it, the WalkCar starts automatically, while simply stepping off stops the vehicle. To change direction, the user just shifts their weight.

Comments

What is the point?

[Carewolf]

So it is even more useless than a SegWay which are already useless. Who needs something that can move short distances at walking speed, but can be carried around when walking? Either you can walk or you can't, if you can walk it is useless, if you can, it is also useless.

Re:What is the point?

[Todd Palin]

While I agree that this thing is almost useless, I have to disagree with one thing. I can walk pretty fast, but can't sustain anything over 6k/h without looking like an idiot. This device claims 10k/h. So, I'd have to say it might be useful if you need to make time in a walking environment. I'm sure you can imagine a situation where 10k/h is better than 6k/h.

Re:What is the point?

[Applehu Akbar]

This is much more useful than a Segway because when you step off, you can easily carry it, say up a flight of stairs and through the chikatetsu system (This is Japan we're talking about) carrying it in a little bag like a laptop. Later, it can be used to zip past that long boring stretch of roadside. Then you pick it up and duck into a Lawson's to do some shopping.

Stateside, you can step out of your Escalade at the mall, zip through that drab parking lot, while holding it up to deflect bullets if the need arises. Just try any of those things, in either country, with a Segway.

Useless where I live.

[mark-t]

Just like the Segway.... can't be used on any public sidewalks, bicycle paths, or roads, and on private property with public access, such as a shopping centre, can only be used with the owner's permission, which most do not give (although some do). Every few weeks or so I might see a person using one, and one time, I even witnessed what appeared to be someone getting fined for using one downtown on the public sidewalk (at least that's what it looked like to me from where I was watching, I wasn't anywhere nearly close enough to hear the actual exchange, but it did look like he was getting a ticket for using the device).

And it's not even that there are any laws explicitly prohibiting the Segway have been made here, it's that the Segway, being motorized, falls under a particular "vehicle" classification intended for use in areas to be shared with pedestrians, and although motorized wheelchairs have a similar classification, there is an explicit exemption for such devices on account that their primary purpose is to provide mobility for the disabled. The Segway, in addition to any similar styles of powered transport, have no such exemption, and so they are prohibited.