Word.ws English Dictionary

people pod

people pod noun: a mobile cabin that attaches to an aircraft or helicopter.

Noun

people pod (plural people pods)

  1. A mobile cabin that attaches to an aircraft or helicopter.
    • With a people pod snugged underneath, it can even transport troops.1965 December, “Biggest -- and Ugliest -- Chopper”, in Popular Science, volume 187, number 6, page 88
    • Innovations such as the helicopter-carried people pod now being demonstrated in Los Angeles may be in use by 1980.1969, Bay Area Transportation Study Commission, Bay Area transportation report, supplement I
  2. A bus-like compartment carried by a lift truck, proposed in the late 1950s for transporting people and luggage from the airport terminal to an aircraft.
    • Its concept is as follows: "Passengers are to be transported from the terminal together with baggage in a detachable bus-like compartment called a people pod on a lift truck.1956, Jet Age Planning: Quarterly Progress Report - Issue 1, page 15
    • Some of the concepts involved, which ought to be applicable elsewhere, are: people pods, as shown at the Cleveland show last June, which pick up unit loads of passengers for direct transportation to aircraft at the runway;1957, Modern Materials Handling - Volume 12, page 198
  3. A driverless electric car for transporting a single person.
    • Each battery-powered people pod looks a bit like George Jetson's egg-shaped sky-car except for the two well-grounded wheels below.2009, Automotive Engineering International - Volume 117, Issues 1-6, page 8
    • In China, GM has demonstrated its EN-V concept to reportedly enthusiastic acceptance, and is working out the bugs there in a model “eco city” for the little personal people pods.2012 April 10, Jeff Cobb, “Former GM R&D Head Predicts Driverless Cars By 2020”, in Hybrid Cars News
  4. (science fiction or futurism) Any of various cars for carrying a small number of people as part of a public transportation system.
    • If you believe your Sunday papers. the answer is supposed to be "people pods in pneumatic tubes."1968, Railway Age - Volume 164, page i
    • These little cars are called people pods. Each one has seats for two to four people. To ride in a people pod, you first buy a ticket from a computer. You push buttons on the computer to tell it where you want to go. You put the ticket in a slot in the small computer on the people pod. The computer...1974, Margaret Early, Gwendolyn Kerr, Judith Busch, Ring around the world, →ISBN, pages 256–257
  5. A small chamber for a single person.
    • For what amounts to a transmission tunnel with two people pods, the Viper's cabin is actually quite roomy.1993, Car and Driver - Volume 39, page 112
    • When they came to the people pods on Crater Street, Ace hid in the underground holding pod, hoping they wouldn't find him.2000, George Ivanoff, Carole Wilkinson, Real sci-fi, →ISBN, page 56

Examples of people pod in a sentence

  • Rucker, AL sent a team to test the toxic gas levels inside the people pods, when flying with doors open.1978, United States Army Aviation Digest - Volume 24, page 16:
  • Using its own money, the company has spent a year designing and building a people pod to hang from the wing of an AV-8B Harrier jump jet.1994 September, Gregory T. Pope, “Commandos Spring From The Wings Of Jump Jets”, in Popular Mechanics, volume 171, number 9, page 15:
  • It could lift a 155mm howitzer, or a van-like “people pod” taking 45 troops and was also capable of being fitted out as a command post or an emergency operating room.2012, Gordon L. Rottman, Vietnam Airmobile Warfare Tactics, →ISBN, page 9:
  • An unusual sight at the recent Northwestern Lumbermen's Association convention in Minneapolis was the Youngblood Express, a "people pod" coupled with a 20,000-pound straddle carrier.1958, American Lumberman & Building Products Merchandiser, page 126:

Forms of people pod

pluralpeople pods
alternative formpeople-pod

Questions about people pod

What does people pod mean?
People pod means a mobile cabin that attaches to an aircraft or helicopter.
How do you use people pod in a sentence?
Rucker, AL sent a team to test the toxic gas levels inside the people pods, when flying with doors open.
What part of speech is people pod?
People pod is a noun.
What is the plural of people pod?
The plural of people pod is people pods.

Words near people pod in the dictionary

  1. people people
  2. people person
  3. people persons
  4. people pleaser
  5. people pleasers
  6. people pod
  7. people pods
  8. people power
  9. people sit on chairs
  10. people skills
  11. people smuggler

Source and license

Adapted from Wiktionary: people pod (page history and authors). Text available under the Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 license. Word.ws reformatted the entry and added links. Wiktionary data of 2026-09-02.

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Cite this entry: “people pod.” Word.ws, https://word.ws/people_pod. Based on Wiktionary, CC BY-SA 4.0.