Hyundai Mobis, the technology and parts arm of the Korean car firm, has shown off two high-tech concept cars that feature wheels that rotate 90 degrees – which means they can spin 360 degrees and drive sideways when required.
The two machines are the battery-electric M.Vision Pop and the hydrogen fuel cell electric vehicle (a hydrogen stack generates electricity that powers a motor) M.Vision 2GO. Both are boxy concept cars designed for shared mobility – they’re urban runabouts you could rent, basically. Don’t expect to see them on the roads any time soon though: Hyundai Mobis is essentially using them to show off technology it’s developing for the future.
The most novel bit of kit fitted to both vehicles is an ‘e-corner module system’, a technology Hyundai Moistures has been working on since 2018. It essentially integrated the steering, braking, suspension and drive systems into a wheel, which means they don’t need a mechanical connection between parts.
That gives the wheel units much greater freedom of movement, and means they can be rotated by up to 90 degrees. That means the the machines are capable of driving sideways, or even spinning 360 degrees on the spot. That extra manoeuvrability will make the vehicles far easier to use in tight urban locations, especially when combined with autonomous driving systems that Hyundai Mobis is working on.
Hyundai Mobis is aiming to have the e-corner module fitted to a working skateboard chassis by 2023, and ready to be used on production autonomous-ready vehicles by 2025.
The firm hasn’t revealed that many other details of the M.Vision Pop – which was first shown earlier last year – or the M.Vision 2Go. The firm has previously said the M.Vision Pop is designed for ‘phobility’ – which stands for phone and mobility, if you couldn’t work it out. Essentially, the machine would be shared and available for hire, and you’d gain access by plugging your smartphone into the steering wheel.
The M.Vision Pop and M.Vision 2Go have been on display at the CES trade show in Las Vegas, and while they’ve been stuck on a stand visitors have been able to try them – in Hyundai Mobis’s virtual ‘Joytown metaverse’.
Rise of the Hyundai robots
Meanwhile, the main Hyundai Motor Group has also had a major presence at CES, showcasing a series of robots and other vehicles as part of its vision for a new concept called ‘metamobility’. That essentially means linking physical machines and the online metaverse – a virtual world where people can meet and communicate – to improve future mobility options.
Broadly, Hyundai is working on the ‘mobility of things’ (MoT), where it can use robotics to bring movement to traditionally inanimate options. It also means that someone travelling in a self-driving car could use an in-car virtual reality experience to visit a metaverse meeting room for work.
If that sounds a bit conceptual for you, Hyundai did reveal some actual machines, including Plug and Drive (PnD) and Drive and Lift (DnL) modular platforms that can enable the MoT. The PnD platform can be used as an individual personal transport, or several units can be linked together to make industrial or commercial transporters.
The DnL platform includes the MobEd droid that Hyundai recently revealed, which is designed to allow wheeled machines to go places they traditionally couldn’t - such as climbing stairs.
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