Hyundai unveils futuristic personal mobility concepts

At the 2012 edition of the ‘IDEA festival’ internal event, the company’s engineers presented a number of personal mobility concept vehicles, including the E4U egg car, a single seater compact commuter designed to be driven at low speeds on narrow roads in urban areas.

E4U Concept

The E4U , recently demonstrated at the 2013 Seoul Motor Show, has an egg-shaped, streamlined body and is powered by an electric drivetrain with a 500W motor and a 24V battery driving a “hemisphere structure” which controls both speed and direction and allows to travel at up to 19 miles per hour.

The scooter-like vehicle weighs 80kg (about 176 pounds) including the the battery and is just over three feet wide.

The rear legs – needed for stability – can be folded, and the side parts are also detachable, which minimizes required parking space.

The name E4U comes from 4 Es; Egg, Evolution, Electricity and Eco-friendliness.

Other Concepts at IDEA Festival 2012

Other concepts presented at the 2012 IDEA Festival included:

• A multi-rotor flying car – powered by four electric motors and propellers which means the car can hover above the ground, keeping the driver above congestion
• A spare tyre electric bike – a spare tyre that quickly folds out into an electric bike. Can be used in the event of a puncture when traffic is heavy, or can be used for leisure
• A portable transforming car –you can carry this around with you and driver can control it with their brain waves using mind control
• A five-jointed car– has five joints giving driver great flexibility to maneuver around tight spaces – driver only need a one meter radius to turn. The joints also enable the car to climb up steps!
• A road car/ bike – recognizes the owner’s voice so they can talk to the car using a wireless head set – can be told to change seating position which will turn the car into a bike
• A wind bike –main motor powered by four batteries, propellers powered by the wind

Hyundai is currently preparing for the ‘IDEA festival 2013’ with its staff submitting their ideas this month. The theme this year is ‘R&D for Customers’, focussing on how to meet customers’ future needs.

About Hyundai IDEA Festival

For the last three years, Hyundai has been organizing this internal contest to enhance and expand R&D staff’s creativity, and to discover fresh ideas for future mobility.

There is always one overriding theme, but there are no boundaries for the ideas. Contestants demonstrate how new thinking can truly create new and innovative possibilities.

Hyundai’s engineers submit their ideas, which get evaluated based on creativity, technology, fun and relevance to the theme.

Winning teams from the first round then compete in a presentation contest and approximately half of the ideas make it to the finals.

The final ideas are produced and demonstrated on the festival day in Korea.

(Source: Hyundai)