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The 3D spherical wheels seem to offer suspiciously little clearance (less than 2 inch according to the 16:26 mark in video) for real world use.
I also have to wonder about the efficiency loss of driving such wheels, which appears to be via 8 tiny wheels in the cage enclosure.
Does any existing vehicle use such spherical wheels?
I see some other takes on omnidirectional wheels at https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Omni_wheel
I think this is a concept vehicle, which is quite common in the "classic" automotive industry when ever they want to introduce new design style/language and/or tech.
Like this is the vision that will inspire the development.
> I see some other takes on omnidirectional wheels at https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Omni_wheel
There is a battlebots robot called shatter[1] which uses omni wheels and imo one of the most impressive bots when it comes to driving; it was a pleasure to see it in action on 2020 season.
I believe the concept relies on a city that is designed with special access lanes/roads that must be built to accommodate.
The fitness pod is like the most ironic thing ever...
Not really, and it definitely isn't any more ridiculous than going to a gym. This gym is just mobile so you can combine two activities.
People wind up commuting and it isn't all that uncommon to commute for 20-30 minutes or more. If that time is a commute by bus/car, it is further than most folks can reasonably walk or ride a bike in all weather - not in that same timeframe, anyway. 20-30 minutes is enough time to exercise a little bit, though. Why not do it during some time you'd just sit there?
I think they are making the point you could just run or use a bicycle. Rather than "just sitting there" in the first place
But replier addressed that, no?
30min car ride is not a 30 min run or bike ride. And then there's weather and terrain and layout.
It may be 30min drive with some exercise vs 2hr bike ride in rain and mud. It's not as interchangeable as it may seem.
Not really no. Maybe for highway travel. In my city, 20-30 minute car trip is certainly faster on a bike, especially if you factor in parking. As for partial bad weather, most people don't work out every day anyway.
Of course there are edge cases with "rain and mud" there are also edge cases with protected bike lanes and rain cover. And if the point is to actually work out, what does rain matter? You are going to end up sweating anyway
A 30 min car drive in city traffic is often a 20 minute bike ride.
I don't think a car is going in mud. A rain jacket and overpants solves for rain nicely.
Driving to the gym is ridiculous. It's onymoronical. The fact that it really happens is both funny and deeply sad.
If it is a practical option for you, then you live in an area with ridiculously poor planning. So bad you should be out protesting such awful planning instead of hitting the gym.
Not everyone needs or wants aerobic exercise every gym visit. Or maybe they prefer swimming to running or biking. Not everyone lives somewhere where the weather is always nice enough to run/bike to the gym, either.
Maybe this is always the result of poor city planning, fine. Exercise is still important, and "protesting" is not exercise.
Or you just live in a small town without facilities. I've been there. Additionally, there is weather, lack of space, lack of money, and lack of safety at times, and lack of time.
I'm ill inclined to go outside in hot weather to exercise: I will walk an hour in cold weather, but I certainly do not feel safe on a bike. An hour in the rain can be pretty miserable too: This isn't so bad when I'm commuting, but getting myself to go outside to exercise in the rain is a different battle entirely.
Ive lived in rural areas and towns that supported them (more pigs than people). At least we had a gas station and grocery stores: Some of the surrounding towns didn't.
A gym costs less upfront than the equipment needed to do weight training and the gym comes with folks that'll give you advice.
I currently live in a small attic apartment and cannot put equipment in the house. The area is very walkable, so I can, technically, walk or run for next to nothing. I personally cannot bike here as I'm not strong enough - I live in a mountainous region. Joining a gym isn't all that out of the question, but I'd definitely drive. The only place in a short walking distance happens to be twice the cost of other places, which are 20-25minutes walk. Driving means that I save 20-30 minutes and I'm much more likely to actually put in some time.
I figure that lack of safety doesn't need explanation.
If we want neighborhood gyms that folks can walk to, we probably need to start by funding them with taxpayer money and make sure they have equipment that meets the needs of the local folks using it. Honestly, though, this doesn't seem worth protesting over since we aren't using that tax money to make sure everyone has food.
Many places in the world have extreme climates that make going outside in the wrong season undesired
Yes, but you can see how it makes sense: weather and the various dangers of being unprotected (walking or biking) in an urban environment.
Ideally we'd have better designed urban environments to alleviate at least the second, but alas.
Ideally we'd have better designed urban environments to alleviate at least the second, but alas.
Sad but true. Amsterdam seems to do ok with pedestrian and bicycle infrastructure and safety. But, aside from a few other western/northern European cities, no place seems to want to follow suit.
Certainly here in DC, we keep getting half-assed bike lanes that lead nowhere, intersect in horrible ways with traffic, and often abut parked cars, leaving cyclist in the door zone. Le Sigh.
> Le Sigh.
Here an (ex-)Amsterdamian who lived in Lyon France for a few years. Your comment about horrible intersections is very recognizable: although the city has quite some (painted) cycle lanes, invariably intersections are without any infra to help safety. I call them "arenas". That's a major thing, besides physically separated cycle lanes, that very few places outside of the Netherlands get right.
Cycling feels safe, serious and a joy in NL, while anywhere else (that I have been) it's an unpleasant and stressful affair.
Conspicuous consumption.
yes; compared to this https://rowingbike.com/en/
incredibly unclear whether this is a hypothetical or not and I hate how articles do that
Definitely fake (a "concept") but the renderings are quite well done. For example they're claiming "level 5 autonomy" which nobody has demonstrated yet.
No way this will ever reach the market though. The wheel design is laughable for anything but a perfectly smooth surface.
https://cleantechnica.com/2021/09/29/citroen-skate-autonomou...
https://uk-media.citroen.com/en-gb/node/90090611#prettyPhoto
The use case they are selling seems to be closer to level 4, given the dedicated lanes and very limited speeds.
This wouldn't be the first level 4 shuttle/taxi, so at least that part seems doable.
In 2015 I was in a room with a bunch of Samsung execs talking about Smart Cities and someone said that Samsung believes the car is the new living room, and they missed owning the first living room, so they won’t miss owning the second. That’s why they purchased Harman Kardon. I didn’t really believe him at the time but now I do.
New, innovative ways to make the parking problem worse?
These things seem best suited as shuttle buses. Shuttle buses are a great way to improve parking and quality of life, by letting people park at a different place then where they want to go.
What problem do shuttle buses have that might be solved or lessened by swappable pods?
Doubtful they’d spend much time parked. These seem to be geared toward bespoke cabin robotic ride sharing. They’d almost always be on the move except for when charging, which could be helped along with induction plates at traffic lights and pickup/drop zones.
One of the things I find compelling about these skate designs is idea that a utility or municipality could provide the skate as a service to folk. Instead of everyone needing to own their own transport, we can own the container, and summon transport to move it around.
There's a lot of steps missing for that to be possible but it feels like a possible way to do things like re-mobilize the mobile/modular home.
This looks like something out of a Luc Besson film.
Moving the Guild Navigators in to fold space, eh?
Even as a concept model this device only goes up to 15 miles/hr. Another example of Autonomous Vehicle vaporware.
15 miles/hr is a realistic average speed in many cities. With its dedicated lane it could be quite competitive in terms of travel speed, just like bicycles.
But really the competition for these systems aren't cars or bicycles. They are mostly shuttle systems, so the competition is either walking, or a car that can't find a parking spot. Maybe public transit. With the highest speed being 5 times average pedestrian speed there are plenty of useful use cases.
Inner city Paris is limited to 30km/h, I don't think going 25 km/h would be a problem.
There's an autonomous shuttle in testing near where I live (goes between a high-density living/shopping area an a metro station) which only goes about 10 mph. So not entirely vaporware...
Ah, yes, pods, the favorite ideas of grifters trying to reinvent mass transportation but making it less useful than public transit, while making a ton of money out of it.
See: Hyperloop
Alternatively: A bunch of folks trying to make mass transport more tolerable to those who would rather be caught dead than ride the bus with the common folks. (I've met a few of these folks). Or simply the folks with some social anxiety or something like that, which can make public transport horrible.
Ah, yes, who doesn't want to sit in a cramped unventilated space with dozens of other people during a pandemic.
The solution is to fix public transit to handle those problems (more capacity, better buses/trains), not give the already-wealthy-that-can-afford-private-transportation even more ways of doing private transportation.
Hint: while you can stay at home and work from your PC, there are still thousands of people still using those very same cramped unventilated spaces, still catching COVID in there. But I guess it's only a problem when it affects you.
.. and while the others produce concepts.. tesla produces cars..
French car makers where the first to sell electric cars
Tesla is lucky to be funded and backed by the US government
https://www.statista.com/statistics/965507/eu-leading-passen...
How is Tesla funded and backed by the US government?
I believe the reference here is to the same loan guarantee that became famous when Solyndra went bankrupt. It secured Tesla's early days, without it the company most certainly wouldn't exist.
I think they from the federal credits offered on electric car purchases, not exactly government funded but without them tesla would have most likely failed.
Citroën has a electric car (the E-C4) available for 33k euro?
What about the Tesla Roadster, Semi-Truck, Truck?
This fanboyism is starting to become too much...
The Tesla Roadster was a real car, not a concept. They made thousands of them.
I don't think we're talking about the same Roadster.
Tesla doesn't solve any problem besides filling up Musk's pockets and ego though
If you believe the future of transportation is 2 tonnes personal cars doing 0-60 in 1.9s I have bad news for you
I'm pretty sure that before the cars went into production, Tesla produced a couple of concept cars, did they not? Does the company not produce concepts for new things they produce?