Bluesmart built a suitcase around a battery airlines then forbade

Bluesmart launched its first connected suitcase in 2014, pitched as carry-on that tracked itself, weighed its contents and charged a phone. It raised roughly $30 million from venture backers including FundersClub, Endeavor Catalyst and Tsing Capital, on top of millions more from Indiegogo pre-orders, and the early press treated it as the category leader.

The whole product depended on one design choice the team never revisited: the lithium-ion cell was sealed inside the shell. That was treated as a feature — a clean, tamper-proof battery — until December 2017, when American Airlines moved first and a string of major carriers followed: if a smart bag's battery could not be removed, the bag was banned from the hold, because a fire in a cargo hold cannot be reached in flight.

Under the IATA guidance that took effect across member airlines on 15 January 2018, non-removable-battery luggage was simply 'forbidden for carriage.' A Bluesmart case could no longer be checked on most of the world's airlines, and the battery could not be taken out by a passenger either. The core promise of the product — a bag you travel with — was gone overnight, with no hardware fix possible for units already sold.