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The Rise and Fall of the Segway – New Publication by Andrew Clark

“The Rise and Fall of the Segway: Lessons for the Social Adoption of Future Transportation” was recently published in Transfers:
Interdisciplinary Journal of Mobility Studies. This paper was written by Andrew Clark, an undergraduate student in Civil Engineering at UConn under the supervision of Drs. Atkinson-Palombo and Norman Garrick. Click here to be brought to the full article.

 

Abstract

Once posited as a revolutionary transportation technology, the Segway never took off as some expected because the social acceptance of the technology was not considered in a systematic manner. Using a framework for social acceptance of technology borrowed from the literature on renewable energy, we examine how social, economic, and environmental costs of the Segway, along with regulatory issues presented barriers to implementation. High prices, legislative and spatial issues, and a lack of appeal to consumers presented challenges to acceptance. This case study provides a timely reminder of the multifaceted and complex nature of social acceptance that will need to be applied to future innovations, such as autonomous vehicles, to better understand factors that need to be considered for them to be embraced by society.

 

TTS’s Autonomous Vehicle Conference

Our April 1st conference, “Putting Humans in the AV Driver’s Seat,” focused on autonomous vehicles and their possible impacts on people, policy, and law. The event was covered in UConn Today’s “Autonomous Vehicles: Diverse Group Seeks to Answer Broad Questions” and MarketWatch’s “Travelers Institute Co-hosts Autonomous Vehicle Symposium at UConn.” You can learn more about the speakers and the event itself here on our website.