The staff of Fortune recently assembled its predictions for 2016. Here’s one of our forecasts.
It started the way any bona fide craze should start: with celebrity buy-in. Justin Bieber, Jimmy Fallon, and Kendall Jenner have all ridden them. Rapper Wiz Khalifa liked his so much he refused to dismount when police questioned him at an airport. The technology in question is, of course, the electric “hoverboard” hands-free scooter. Versions of the skateboard-like contraption are now being produced in China—by, among others, Ninebot, the company that bought Segway this year (and is backed by smartphone giant Xiaomi). Expect to ride a hoverboard—or at least dodge one—in the coming months.
This article is part of the 2016 Fortune Crystal Ball, a package of 33 predictions about business, politics and the economy by the writers and editors of Fortune. To see the entire package, click here.