Segway-Ninebot unveils scooter that can return itself to its charging station

The Segway-Ninebot group, a partnership between the US company Segway and Chinese company Ninebot, has unveiled a scooter that can drive itself to its charger.

In an interview with Reuters, Ninebot’s chairman and chief executive Gao Lufeng, stated that “The pain point for scooter operators is to better maintain the scooters at a lower cost,” as most scooter sharing fleets overseas have to collect the machines manually to recharge them.

In 2015, Segway-Ninebot began to supply scooters for scooter-sharing companies such as Bird and Lime, in the United States. Gao added, “I believe scooters will replace bicycles as the prime solution for micro-mobility. It’s human nature to save energy when commuting.”

The scooters are reported to be priced around CNY 10,000PHP 80,609USD 1,374INR 116,428EUR 1,308 (~PHP 74,323USD 1,266INR 107,367EUR 1,206CNY 9,223) and will begin road-testing next month. The Segway-Ninebot group is targeting to release the semi-autonomous scooters by the first quarter of 2020.

Source: Reuters