Let Us Ride
We’ve been fans of Future Motion since we first tried the Onewheel. And we’ve come to know Kyle and his team over the years as they’ve solved various hard problems from early manufacturing ramp up to covid component shortages. So it’s especially difficult to see the CPSC publicly recommend riders to stop riding as a result of safety concerns without any supporting data.
We think it’s important to explain why this product should exist, beyond the fact that it’s one of the most loved products we’ve ever seen. Then we’ll get into our view on allegations from the CPSC and what we’d like to see from them and more generally in micro mobility regulations.
What’s makes the Onewheel great
The Onewheel fits into a universe of personal transportation devices, broadly referred to as micro mobility. This includes, bikes, ebikes, scooters, electric skateboards, etc. The core idea behind micromobility’s impact is replacement of car trips, which are the highest source of GHG emissions in personal transportation. But micromobility also has other benefits such as lower cost per mile, reduced road traffic, including searching for parking, which adds avoidable vehicle miles. Automobiles also pose a significant risk to pedestrians and micromobility riders. There are direct physical risks but also public health impacts of emissions. In addition, micro mobility expands the reach of public transit by making it faster to get to and from stations and stops. And public transit is usually the lowest lifecycle footprint of any transport options.
CPSC concern
The CPSC asked users to stop using Onewheels. They did not say that Onewheels malfunctioned, but stated that they are aware of at least 4 deaths associated with Onewheels as well as multiple injuries.
In the past, the CPSC has taken a much different approach to board sports. When snowboarding became popular, the CPSC said “We all know that falling or ‘wiping out’ is inevitable. Snowboarders should take lessons to help them enjoy the sport and reduce the risk of injury.” The CPSC attributed a massive spike in snowboarding injuries to the rising popularity of the sport and lack of instruction for novice snowboarders. But this CPSC administration is unjustifiably treating the Onewheel community very differently, and singling out the Onewheel because it is a new technology. This isn’t just our opinion, but has been the immediate reaction of the Onewheel community (links to reactions at the end).
Here’s what we know about safety
In 2020 bicycles were associated with more than 1,200 deaths, ATVs were associated with more than 650 deaths and motorcycles were associated with more than 5,500 deaths. On a per-mile AND per-vehicle basis, Onewheels have lower rates of serious injury than these other popular motion products, all of which are also capable of much higher speeds.
The CPSC’s response to the recent increase in accidents within the growing micro mobility products category has been to urge consumers to “use caution and safety” and provide basic safety information.
Why treat Onewheel riders differently?
What we’d love to see
Every category of micro mobility devices is growing rapidly. At the same time, safety equipment options are growing like full face helmets to padded clothing. City governments continue to add more robust infrastructure such as protected lanes for micro mobility vehicles. This avoids one of the main sources of injury for micro mobility, automobiles.
The CPSC should establish guidelines for transportation devices, comparable to other types of transportation on a per capita or per vehicle miles traveled. Singling out small, US manufacturers without being able to demonstrate a product defect or showing relative safety does not serve the public interest. It’s unclear what this might achieve, except to reduce confidence in micro mobility.
The Department of Transportation has oversight over automobiles, public transit and aviation. The global micro mobility fleet is growing rapidly. And while there is recreational use, like ATVs, there is significant transportation use too. And it’s projected to keep on growing (see the chart below), so it’s probably time to consider a micro mobility agency as part of the DOT. Manufacturers can work collaboratively with the government to set standards and ensure the best possible safety outcomes as we do for other vehicle types.
The transportation landscape is moving quickly. EVs get most of the news coverage, but micromobility is on track to be just as important in the next decade. We can’t afford to have one off reactions to emerging technologies — that’s not going to help safety or build trust in institutions as they adapt to new technologies. We also put at risk US manufacturing and climate solutions. Without data and comparisons with other better known transportation options, singling out the Onewheel does little for public safety.
We’d love to see the data and analysis from the CPSC, and then have the agency enter into a productive dialogue with Future Motion about ways to improve public safety.
Here’s the letter from Future Motion in response to the CPSC press release and unofficial Reddit commentary.
