Image Credits: Bryce Durbin
The co- founder and head of product at electric scooter startup Taur spent four years riding a self-balancing electric unicycle. He rides a scooter a lot today.
Brown has been thinking about the design of light electric vehicles. How can they make people see them as valid forms of transportation instead of toys? How might the design of a scooter encourage a rider to use it as a mode of transportation instead of just using it for fun in the park?
Brown is obsessed with how his product will be used by his customers. The company that separates owned scooters from shared scooters will be able to show people how to integrate scooters into their daily lives.
“All scooters should have really good bike lights, should handle really well and have wheels big enough to ride over the terrain that you’re going to get in the city. But those are just the starting points.” Carson Brown
A vehicle that is front-facing is what Taur has designed. This bold idea will be tested when the company launches in Los Angeles.
The startup is still new and launched a campaign for its flagship vehicle. The company has raised about $5.2 million so far.
We talked with Brown about why scooters should be designed to handle roads that exist today and how good design can help people adapt to use scooters in their daily lives.
An interview with a founder of a transportation company has been edited for length and clarity.
For four years, you worked at Uniwheel. What were you able to learn there?
The electric unicycle space was very young when I was there. The team came from all over the world. There was a product background for me. We were all working on something that we hadn't seen before. You learned a lot about the basics of electric vehicles when you built that product. What is it like to be a user? I learned a lot about the commute on a micro mobility vehicle for four years. I did my chores that way. It was an effort to understand what the product needed to be and how it would benefit you.
We were building electric scooters for a niche audience when I was there. Electric scooters represent something that both my co-founder and I have high confidence people could learn immediately and deliver all the benefits of small micro mobility vehicles. The low cost of operation is one of the things you get. They are a better fit for a large group of people.
What do you think has stood out to you as a micro mobility commuter?
It was important to make riders feel confident. It is getting better in a lot of cities with bike lanes, but there are still some places where you feel like a second-class citizen, and it can be quite intimidating. There are things you can do to make it better. There is the lighting of the car. It handles both stability and control in different ways. We designed a white scooter because we wanted it to be seen by other users. Confidence can be increased by all of these things. We don't want people who love it, but don't feel safe riding it in the back streets, but not using it every day, to be able to use it. How do we build something that people will use on a daily basis?
The Uniwheel was well-suited for portable use. The idea of being able to take a product inside is what it's all about. Extra mobility is opened up due to the reduction in the chance of theft. It is with me at home. It's with me at work. I need to decide if I want to go somewhere that's accessible.
There is still a long way to go. There is a long-term vision. Do you still use scooters?
Two-wheeled transportation is something we focus on. There is a lot of scope for innovation, but I am not sure how broad we will get. In terms of unit sales and growth, show scooters have been more popular than e- bikes. There's a lot of dry powder in this area.
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