---
title: "Segway’s New “Personal Transporter Pod” Looks Really Familiar"
description: "The newly announced Segway S-Pod transportation scooter looks eerily similar to the hover chairs featured in the dystopian Pixar film \"WALL-E."
date: "2020-01-03"
modified: "2020-01-03"
authors:
  - name: "Kristin Houser"
    link: "https://futurism.com/authors/kristin"
url: "https://futurism.com/the-byte/segway-transporter-pod-looks-familiar"
categories:
  - "Advanced Transport"
tags:
  - "personal transportation"
  - "Segway"
  - "the digest"
  - "wall-e"
---

# Segway’s New “Personal Transporter Pod” Looks Really Familiar

![The newly announced Segway S-Pod transportation scooter looks eerily similar to the hover chairs featured in the dystopian Pixar film "WALL-E.](<https://futurism.com/wp-content/uploads/2020/01/segway-personal-transporter-pod.jpg>)
*\<em\>Image: Segway via Wired\</em\>*

## Déja Vu

It seems life really does imitate art — for better or worse.

On Friday, Segway-Ninebot [announced](<http://www.globenewswire.com/news-release/2020/01/03/1966014/0/en/SEGWAY-NINEBOT-UNVEILS-VISION-FOR-FUTURE-OF-MOBILITY-IN-SMART-CITIES-AND-OFF-ROAD-WITH-DEBUT-OF-INNOVATIVE-NEW-PRODUCT-LINES.html>) several new transportation products it plans to unveil at next week's Consumer Electronics Show — and as [pointed out by *Wired*](<https://futurism.com/neoscope/google-ai-spot-breast-cancer>), one of them looks eerily similar to the hover chairs featured in the post-apocalyptic Pixar film "WALL-E."

## Segway S-Pod

The device is called the Segway S-Pod, and like Segway's flagship vehicle, it balances on two wheels. According to a Segway-Ninebot [press release](<http://www.globenewswire.com/news-release/2020/01/03/1966014/0/en/SEGWAY-NINEBOT-UNVEILS-VISION-FOR-FUTURE-OF-MOBILITY-IN-SMART-CITIES-AND-OFF-ROAD-WITH-DEBUT-OF-INNOVATIVE-NEW-PRODUCT-LINES.html>), a rider sits in the pod and uses a navigation panel to drive the contraption at upwards of 38 kilometers per hour (24 miles per hour).

"The S-Pod spins and rotates by the center smoothly for directional changes," Segway-Ninebot wrote, adding that "since the 'brake' is placed by the shift of the center of gravity, it eliminates the possibility of the S-Pod tipping over in any situation."

## New Scooter

Segway-Ninebot also wrote in the press release that the S-Pod is designed for use in "enclosed campuses such as airports, theme parks and malls," making it seem like a sleeker alternative to the electric scooters that already populate those settings.

The switch from four wheels to two will likely give the S-Pod a tighter turning radius than those other transportation options. Still, it's hard to look at the device and not think about the meek consumers of the "WALL-E" universe — and it's hard to imagine that that's an image buyers will be clamoring to imitate.

**READ MORE:** [Segway Is Bringing the Hoverchairs From *WALL-E* to Life](<https://www.wired.com/story/segway-bringing-hoverchairs-wall-e-life/>) \[*Wired*\]

**More on Segway:** *[Segway Is Back With an Even More Insane Way to Move Your Feet](<https://futurism.com/segway-skates-drift>)*

### Author social links  
[LinkedIn](<https://www.linkedin.com/in/kristinjhouser>)