Tim McMorris' guitar-laden foot stomper "She's Fire Walking," is a great song to accompany the demo for Cocoa Motors' WalkCar, a laptop-sized vehicle whose designer seems confident it's going right where the Segway went wrong. Japanese electric motor engineer Kuniako Saito is the one firewalking as he casually takes on bumps and hills with the four-wheeled, 6.6 lb., ultra-portable machine. He weaves through cones with subtle weight shifts, can stop almost instantly, and picks the WalkCar up like a skateboard when he's done. Forget the hoverboard, this feels like the functional future gliding around like in sci-fi flicks.
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Saito plans to launch a Kickstarter this fall, where the masses can reserve their own for $800. With a 6.2 mph max speed and 7-mile battery life, it's probably not worth selling your bike for, but the WalkCar might smooth out that 10-block stretch at the end of your big city commute—or impress your friends with its sleek MacBook aesthetics.
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