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Dan's goal was to build the perfect SUV by doubling the efficiency of a Land Rover Defender 90 - customizing 60% of the parts over a year and a half.

To conduct a longevity test, Dan drove 8000+ miles across the country twice to work the bugs out of the custom drivetrain.

Then Dan built a second one. During this process, Dan came to realize the inefficiency of such large vehicles and dreamed of a simpler and more exciting way of getting around. 

The idea for the C-1 got more traction this sketch Dan drew in the Spring of 2008. Dan's sketch brought together a team of designers from RISD and engineers from Olin College of Engineering and MIT.

The first gyro was made in 2009 on a $200 budget using Arduino and RC components.

Dan packed his life in Rhode Island and moved to San Francisco with $40,000, a dream, and a team.

Lit Motors' first office: Danny's apartment on 14th and Woodward.

Watching the gyros being machined for the first time.

The first real gyro assembly laid out on Dan's apartment floor. Specifications: 75 ft-lbs of torque, 7 inches, 15 lbs.

Flywheel motors, servos, sensors, bearings, and Arduino based electronic controls developed for first prototype, "EP1."

First in-house developed circuit board for stability control.

EP1 assembled and tested. Ready for fundraising.

EP1 demo was successful! Lease signed and ready to move-in! Check out our rooftop view!

First day at the new Lit Motors lab cleaning up the design studio.

6'2" engineer tests the human factors on the first C-1 design study.

Teammates prepping for an investor pitch.

Stanford Graduate School of Business MBA maps out Lit Motors' deployment strategy.

Early designer T.J. presents his C-1 concept sketches.

T.J. sits in our first ergonomic mock-up.

Testing sight lines and visibility of the C-1.

First model of the C-1's iconic silhouette and body design made out of foamcore.

Demonstrating the working gyros to Discovery Channel at the Yerba Buena Ice Skating Rink.

Arrived in India! The Lit Motors team went to research large scale production at an engineering workshop with Eicher Motors in Chennai, India.

Checking out Royal Enfields' production line where 300 bikes are built per day.

Meanwhile back in the U.S, the team puts together a rough CAD model of the C-1.

Wild Factory Studio, the company that built the Light Cycle for the movie Tron, creates a foam positive mold of the C-1 with a CNC.

Finished and painted full scale C-1 show model built by Wild Factory.

Loading up the C-1 model from Wild Factory to meet the press from CNET.

Sumi Das is the first reporter to sit in the show model for the CNET debut.

Proud to finally see the vision of a full-scale C-1.

Backstage view of the first video shoot for Gizmodo and Reuters.

All of our prototypes in one room, ready for a CNN shoot.

EP2 gyros (150 ft-lbs of torque) and part of our old machine shop.

The engineers evalute a new traction motor.

Our new showroom and qualitative clinic in progress.

Using our showroom model as a reference to build EP3, our first driving prototype.

Julian, our prototype designer, hard at work.

Dan and the design team hand-rolled a sheet metal unibody.

EP3 with doors and prototype suspension installed.

The engineers test the controls system and large scale gyro (Gyro No. 3).

First closed loop controlled gyros at 700 ft-lbs of torque.

Gyro No. 3 in testbed.

Danny visits the Department of Energy.

The completed EP3 on our showroom floor.

On to Gyro No. 4! 1000 ft-lbs of torque. Getting ready for 2012 TechCrunch Disrupt.

Engineers test the electrical controls for Gyro No. 4.

The C-1 is getting primed, painted, and ready for TechCrunch Disrupt.

Fresh paint on the C-1.

Lit Motors presents at TechCrunch Disrupt becoming the first hardware startup to ever reach the finals.

The New York Times covers our first drive.

News Flash! Lit Motors appears on the front page of The New York Times website on October 11, 2012.

Lit Motors makes an appearance on Yahoo! "Home page of the internet".

Christoph Grote, CTO of BMW Group pays a visit to Lit Motors.

We make it onto the front page of USA Today!

Two core patents are issued and granted internationally.

Danny gets a visit from Christian Landerl, the CTO of BMW's motorcycle division.

Yves Béhar, Damon Way, Steve Rocco, Kelly Slater, Mark Pincus, Scott Belsky, and Jung-Ju Kim invest in Lit Motors.

Our team showcases the C-1 at CES 2014.

Work begins on EP4 with full architectural component placement study.

Our engineer Harsh welds a battery pack for EP4.

Parts for EP4 arrive from the machine shop.

A close look at the gyro!

A closer view of the 10.4 kWh battery pack.

First official team photo taken in Spring 2014.

Bloomberg TV interviews Dan in March 2014.

Our vehicle architect, Eric, tests the human factors on the EP4 chassis.

The team unloads the Auto-balancing Electric Vehicle (AEV) for its first drive test at Mazda Raceway Laguna Seca.

Danny takes his race bike out for a spin at Laguna Seca.

EP4 looking lean and mean.

Our designer Natalia is the first non-motorcyclist to drive EP4.

BBC films EP4 in action.

The engineers strap in BBC reporter Jack Stewart for a test drive.

Willy, our test driver/engineer, puts the AEV through its paces.

The AEV is back at Mazda Raceway Laguna Seca for another test drive. 

Willy tests the AEV's stability on ice.

Popular Science selected the C-1 as winner of one of its 2015 Invention Awards