The accelerated melting Arctic Sea ice has increased the availability of the Arctic shipping lane. As a major maritime and trading country, China can make full use of the Arctic shipping lane to alleviate the “Malacca dilemma” of the maritime transportation and ensure the transportation safety of Chinese strategic materials. The Arctic shipping lane cannot be opened without the support of polar icebreakers. The pod propulsion system that is the key equipment of modern polar icebreakers can give full play to the ice-breaking ability of icebreakers. Under the current international situation, the construction of polar icebreakers in China demands independent development of the ice-class pod propulsion system for the polar icebreakers. The current study introduces the development and current situation of the pod propulsion. It analyzes the characteristics of the ice-class pod propulsion system, summarizes the key technologies for the development of the ice-class pod propulsion system, and presents the development trend of the ice-class pod propulsion system. It is found that the ice-class pod propulsion system has higher technical threshold than the non-ice pods due to the characteristics of complex operating conditions, variable ice loads, high torque overloads, and fast dynamic response of revolution speed. Throughout the development of the pods, it is suggested to be led by professional electric companies, combine the advanced resources in the industry to break through the key technologies, and launch products with demonstration and verification as soon as possible, in order to support the opening of China’s Arctic shipping lane.