Segway Brings the Hoverchairs From WALL-E to Life


You’ll soon be able to scoot around town—at 24 mph—without even having to stand up

This week, Segway will debut new personal transporter pods at CES, the huge annual consumer electronics show in Las Vegas. It’s called the S-Pod, and it doesn’t float. Instead, it uses Segway’s self-balancing technology to propel the user forward on two wheels, while sitting down.

The commercial version of the S-Pod is intended for use on closed campuses, like airports, theme parks, or the deck of a luxury space cruiser 800 years in the future. It’s billed as intuitive and easy to use. Unlike Segway’s signature transporter, you don’t have to lean forward or backward to make it move. Instead, the rider navigates via a knob on a navigational control panel.

While its speed is locked at 7.5 mph maximum, it can be unlocked to reach 24.8 mph. Unlocked, it might be illegal on many public streets; most city-legal e-bikes max out at 20 mph. It also has a range of 43 miles and can climb angles of up to 10 degrees. Segway has also noted that because you brake the S-Pod by shifting the pod’s center of gravity, it’s almost impossible to tip it over.

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