Segway created an egg-shaped 'transporting pod' that looks part-electric wheelchair, part-WALL-E hoverchair - and it can go 24 mph
- Segway Ninebot, the company behind a slew of motorized personal vehicles, has unveiled its newest product, a personal "transporting pod" called the S-Pod.
- The S-Pod can go up to 24 mph, and works like a motorized wheelchair: allowing its user to sit while they travel around. It's already drawing comparisons to the hover chairs in Disney movie "WALL-E" and the gyrospheres in "Jurassic World."
- The S-Pod will be introduced at consumer tech show CES 2020 next week, and is not yet for sale to the general public.
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The company behind the original Segway has unveiled its plans for a personal "transporting pod" that allows its user to travel around on what's essentially a electric wheelchair
The S-Pod will be unveiled next week at CES 2020, the biggest consumer tech expo of the year. The S-Pod can hit speeds of up to 24 mph, motorized personal vehicle maker Segway-Ninebot announced Friday.
Like the original Segway, the S-Pod runs on only two wheels, but it's "self-balancing." Instead of navigating by leaning forwards and backwards, the S-Pod comes with a navigation pad to manually point the vehicle in the direction you want to go. Segway suggests that the S-Pod is perfect for "enclosed campuses such as airports, theme parks and malls."
Segway-Ninebot says the vehicle draws inspiration from the gyrosphere vehicles in the 2015 movie "Jurassic World," which transports visitors around the amusement park.
However, the S-Pod is already drawing comparisons to another movie vehicle: the hoverchairs in Disney's Pixar animated movie "WALL-E" that passengers use to travel around and essentially inhabit.
People will be able to try out the S-Pod for the first time at CES 2020, which kicks off January 7 in Las Vegas.
However, the S-Pod is not on sale to the public. The Verge reports that the S-Pod will be available to purchase likely in 2021 or later.