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Comment by komali2 | Hacker News Reader

>We will, without question, continue to innovate in the electric skateboard category, and we have a lot of exciting things in the works,” he says.

I mean, not much has changed in the "things on wheels" category in a long time. All are just modifications of things that already existed - razor scooters were just smaller form factor scooters, longboards were just longer skateboards, etc. Then we stuck electric motors on it.

I mean, what else can you do other than find new things to stick electric motors to? And I guess make things smaller/more foldable, lighter, whatever.

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Well, off the top of my head...

Add some ML, get luggage/groceries/whatever that follows you.

Use omni-wheels, correct for user error, make safer devices that are harder to fall off of.

Self-balancing fold-away rollerblades? How does the market change when your wheels are something you put on in the morning and don't take off all day? Like shoes.

Use a rocker-bogies to make curb-climbing practical (electric skateboards that can climb right up a flight of steps?).

Dynamic shock absorbers that read the terrain in front of it, and provide steady performance over rough ground. Maybe curb and stair-climbing.

Those wheels from snowcrash.

>Those wheels from snowcrash

Who do I give all my money to for this

edit: regarding " get luggage/groceries/whatever that follows you," I do recall now my first day in San Francisco seeing someone on a jog near the wharfs with a little robot on wheels following him with his keys in a bucket on it. Looked very homemade.

I suspect dynamic shocks and a few more wheels are a better solution. A row of like 6 wheels on the leading edge, offset from one another, should be able to accomplish a lot of the same things.

> Add some ML, get luggage/groceries/whatever that follows you.

Oh god, they're going to put skateboard wheels on Big Dog

Self-driving longboards

Or, more seriously, the broader class of self-driving vehicles for disabled: driver assistance for quadriplegic wheel chairs, segways for the blind (self-navigating, or just obstacle avoidance with tactile feedback for manual navigation)

>Self-balancing fold-away rollerblades? How does the market changes when your wheels are something you put on in the morning and don't take off all day? Like shoes.

Like Heelys, but "smarter"?

I was imagining more of a bracer sort of thing. Bigger wheels, self-balancing, straps to your shin.

Better ankle support since these things are going to be powered. Not built-in to your shoes, so you don't need to replace it as often and you can stash it if for some reason you don't want to look like a weirdo. Bigger wheels, probably just one wheel per foot, probably self-balancing. Jump and flick to deploy or stow, large single-wheel moves to the back of your leg when stowed.

But yes, I suppose like heelys.

Boosted board owner here, I did a market research survey a while back asking me about my opinion on electric skateboards, scooters, bikes etc. Pure speculation here, but there's a chance they go into bikes. Bikes are a much bigger market segment than longboards.

e-bikes feel pretty saturated right now. You can get very pricey made in america brands, or very cheap made in China brands. What is there niche?

> very pricey made in america brands, or very cheap made in China brands

Trek, Specialized and Cannondale all manufacture in China. Waterford and Vanilla don't make electric bikes. Even Stromer, with $10k bikes, only does final assembly in Switzerland with Chinese components.

Maybe you meant that historically-North American-branded expensive e-bikes (with in person support at local bike shops) vs. came-out-of nowhere brands with poor support and great prices? [Schwinn, Cannondale, GT & more are owned by Chinese conglomerates]

The middle path seems to be smaller North American aggregators/assemblers that sell direct or to bike shops that aren't tied to big-Co. exclusives (if thou wants to carry Specialized, thou shalt not carry XYZ) such as Rad Power and Juiced.

Mid-level pricing America brands manufactured in Mexico?

I mean I personally feel like there is a brand vacuum. There isn't really a 'Tesla' of e-bikes right now. And something like 30-40% of Dutch people bike, so it definitely doesn't have to be niche.

I thought the fixie scene was saturated in 2007.

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