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Bodywork is more aerodynamic, paint options have widened, and little extras like seat belts and airbags have been added, but still – a car is a car.
It does not, for instance, have legs. Unless it is the Elevate, an autonomous and electric ‘walking car concept’ unveiled by Hyundai at the CES technology show in Las Vegas. The South Korean manufacturer calls Elevate the first UMV – ultimate mobility vehicle – promising to “redefine our perception of vehicular freedom” and usher in “a new paradigm of mobility”. The vehicle has four articulated legs for walking and climbing, with wheels on the end for conventional driving.
Designed principally for natural disaster response or other journeys with difficult terrain, the Elevate’s legs have five degrees of freedom and wheel-hub propulsion motors. They can handle “both mammalian and reptilian walking gaits” or stow away to maximise efficiency in drive mode. The concept car will apparently climb over 1.5m walls and gaps while keeping passengers level, and the wheel-leg combination raises the intriguing possibility of “faster walking speeds, unique dynamic driving postures and torsional control at the end of each leg”. Could this be the first skating car?
‘A solution looking for a problem’
It is a fascinating vision of future mobility. “From a conceptual point of view, there is not something there that can’t be done, but the challenges would be cost and complexity,” says Sam Akehurst, professor of advanced powertrain systems at the University of Bath.
Issues include the complicated mechanisms, hinges and actuators needed to achieve the legs’ high degrees of freedom, and Akehurst says stability might also be tricky. “They’ve got to have batteries – which aren’t the lightest things in the world – within that body, which is quite high up in the air over these legs,” he says.
Ultimately, he asks, would drones or helicopter-style vehicles not be better for natural disaster relief? Faster and more mobile than a car – even one with legs – flying vehicles can travel further to the site of an emergency, use an aerial viewpoint to find survivors, and airlift them without needing to climb over rubble. Flying vehicles could also be cheaper to build.
The car is reminiscent of Martian landers and Boston Dynamics’ dog-like robots, says Akehurst, suggesting that military or space exploration applications could be possible after some adjustments. “If you have got to get somewhere at no matter the cost, then potentially it’s a solution looking for a problem.”
But the Elevate is not just for high-intensity missions. The announcement from Hyundai also describes the vehicle simply climbing over snow to rejoin a road, or extending its legs to reach a disabled person at the top of some stairs.
Hyundai, after all, wants to look beyond emergency uses and create that “new paradigm of mobility”. After 111 years, maybe it is time for a change.
Content published by Professional Engineering does not necessarily represent the views of the Institution of Mechanical Engineers.