Honda Unveils Segway Competitor: the Uni-Cub

Watch out, Segway, there's a new player in the high-end scooter game. Honda has revealed the Uni-Cub, a personal mobility device that, like the Segway, is driven by shifting one's weight. It "looks like a trash compactor on wheels," reports the Los Angeles Times. (The Wall Street Journal thinks it's more like a "vacuum cleaner with a bicycle saddle mounted on top.") The big difference between the Uni-Cub and the Segway is that the Uni-Cub is compact enough to be used indoors, say at large airports or museums.

When seated on it, the rider is between the eye level of a pedestrian and a person in a chair. "This configuration promotes harmony between the rider and others, letting the rider travel freely and comfortably inside facilities among moving people," Honda said in a statement. The Uni-Cub runs on a lithium-ion battery and can hit a max speed of 4 miles per hour. No word yet on when it'll be available, but testing of the gadget will begin in June. (More Uni-Cub stories.)