Segway Will Plug The Cab-To-Desk Gap In Your Daily Commute

Segway is finally plugging the last-mile coverage gap — it is starting a service in which electric scooters will drop you from your cab to your desk. The company will use electrically powered scooters with a range of 12 miles that can be charged by plugging them into a socket to basically make you avoid walking altogether.

The concept comes as a result of Segway’s acquisition of CityGo — the startup which originally pitched the concept last year and reached its goal to raise $300,000 for the concept soon after.

Segway is actually pitching it as a part of a larger commuting network — it is working on an app that will not just show you the scooter battery life but also show you cab companies and even city infrastructure.

According to Engadget, the concept will only become a reality by next year.

But, realistically, why would you need such a mode of transport? Well, it might actually be useful if you are working in a large company, say Apple, which actually has such a large campus, that being dropped off at your desk makes sense.

The concept entails literally dropping you to your desk and saving those valuable minutes during those times you really need to get to your desk.

While the company hasn’t revealed its plans for monetization yet, chances are that it could lease out the concept to large companies or have such scooters sitting outside offices, where you can just input a destination and pay to get there.

The company has also not explained whether it will be just letting you use the scooter as your means of transport for short distances, or whether you would be able to pick it up and drop it off at designated points since carrying around an electric scooter in your cab doesn’t sound too sensible.

If you plan to carry it around in your own car, you can fit in an electric socket that will let you charge it. Otherwise, Segway proposes installation of public charging stations that will be available to charge these scooters.

There are also other factors at play — the scooter might not be able to carry you if you are overweight since it comes with weight restrictions of up to 275 lbs (125 kilograms).

The biggest selling point of the whole concept is that it will actually let you save minutes in your daily life, which will have let you save a lot of time, over time.

It is a novel concept, and given the response CityGo's IndieGoGo campaign got, there are takers for it.

Whether it succeeds or not will be dependent on how it is used and how many end consumers actually prefer the service and also its tie-ups with cab companies and most importantly if it's able to get permission to navigate people inside a city’s or company’s infrastructure.