24 Mar 05 15:01
Toyota's showpiece at the New York Motor Show this week is a curious single-seat "personal mobility" device called i-unit. Toyota says that it "seeks to balance freedom of movement, harmony with society, and harmony with the Earth's natural environment. Its design was inspired by a leaf and expresses the power of the unknown, the logic of living things and the simple beauty of waste-free functionality." Far-out, man: this is the mobility scooter of the future.
The battery-powered i-unit weighs 180kg and is made from recyclable and decomposable materials, and it can operate in either a chair-like upright mode or reclining with a low centre of gravity for a higher speed. It has drive-by-wire electronic controls, an information system using lights, sounds and vibrations, and could be linked to a system of specially-equipped lanes in which it could be operated on auto-pilot. To top all this off, it can have its body colour 'personalised' according to the driver's mood, and a recognition system memorises settings for controls and music. After the NY show, it will go on display at EXPO 2005 in Aichi, Japan.
