At a spacious warehouse in San Francisco, I see what appears to be a mobility scooter navigating the room. But there’s a catch: No one’s sitting in or steering the chair. It’s moving entirely on its own.
What I’m observing is the Strutt Ev1, a “smart personal vehicle” that uses a sensor suite and cameras to help people navigate spaces and avoid obstacles. The company hosted a media event in mid-November to demonstrate its tech, ahead of officially unveiling the device at CES 2026 in January.
A closeup of one of the Ev1’s wheels and sensors.
To passersby, the Ev1 appears to be a standard mobility device. It’s all black, with four wheels and a cushioned seat. But a closer look reveals two lidar units, 10 time-of-flight sensors, six ultrasonic sensors and two cameras, which all work together to detect objects near and far, allowing the Ev1 to cruise on its own. It can drive at up to 6 mph, and backs up at around 2 mph.
There’s a joystick for navigation, which you can also use to manually steer the vehicle. A small screen displays a live 3D map of your surroundings. (If you’ve ever been inside a Waymo autonomous vehicle, this resembles the screen that depicts nearby vehicles and pedestrians.) The Ev1’s screen also has a rear-view camera feed and a speedometer.
“We actually don’t call it a wheelchair,” Tony Hong, Strutt’s founder and CEO, told me. “The ‘Ev1’ actually stands for ‘everyday vehicle.’ So it gives people the freedom, the confidence, the tech that enables them to go anywhere.”
I tried out a few of the Ev1’s features.
Taking the Ev1 for a spin
I demoed two main capabilities during Strutt’s media event. One taps into the company’s Co-Pilot Plus feature, which helps the Ev1 navigate tight spaces. I tested this in a setting with a curved barrier all around me. When I pushed the joystick forward, the Ev1 automatically adjusted its path to avoid bumping into obstacles, even though I was simply moving straight. It also stopped on its own when there was someone standing in front of me. I could observe the path Co-Pilot Plus was taking on the Ev1’s display to anticipate its direction.
The second feature I tried was equally impressive. The Ev1 can map a space like your home, so you can say, “I want to go to the couch,” and it’ll navigate there on its own. You can teach it new places by manually going to a spot and stating what that location is. For example, you could say, “This is the refrigerator, please mark it,” and the Ev1 will remember that for next time. In the demo space, I had it take me from the stage to the TVs in the back of the hall with a voice command.
Along with autonomous navigation tech, Strutt says the Ev1 has four-wheel drive for smoother movement both indoors and outdoors. That includes traversing over gaps on train platforms and climbing over smaller sidewalk curbs. And, fitting for the San Francisco event, Strutt says the Ev1 can go up an 11-degree slope.
The scooter can charge up to 80% in about two and a half hours, according to Strutt, and reaches a full charge in around 3 to 4 hours.
People can also pair the Ev1 with an Apple Vision Pro headset to navigate using eye movements. After pairing the devices in the Strutt app, the Ev1 will stream route information and safety alerts to the Vision Pro. You can then use eye movements to navigate the scooter.
Strutt plans to share more details about the Ev1’s availability and pricing in January.