Japanese startup Lifehub Inc. will introduce an all-terrain electric wheelchair in 2026, allowing users to climb and descend stairs and board trains and buses without assistance. The wheelchair, called Avest, has caterpillar tracks to negotiate stairs, slopes, and uneven ground.
The company plans to develop a model that can navigate escalators, a first for the industry, with a launch edition priced at 1.5 million yen ($10,000). Lifehub aims to solve the challenges faced by wheelchair users with its technologies, initially focusing on the disabled, elderly, and those with injuries, before marketing the wheelchairs as personal vehicles.