Photo: USPTO via Gizmodo
The good thing about owning a patent is that it gives you the right to squeeze others out of money or out of business. No matter how weird the idea that pops into one’s head is, rushing to the patent office to secure the rights for this or that contraption could prove a stroke of genius.
Judging by the way in which the automotive industry progresses, it’s no telling what the future might bring. We may get flying cars, submarines in the sky or even motorcycles that spawn from under the body of an average car.
This is exactly what Ford thinks might be a thing in the future: a motorcycle attached to the inside of the car, that can be released to provide extra mobility.
Officially, the gizmo is called “Vehicle with Integrated Electric Motorcycle.” The patent was published by the U.S. Patent & Trademark Office (USPTO) on April 26 and has been assigned to Ford Global Technologies.
The men behind the idea are three German nationals who believe that a multimodal transport machine is just what the crowded streets of the modern world need.
As per the provisions of the patent, the electric motorcycle is fitted between the driver and the passenger seats, with a securing apparatus stopping it from going berserk while still inside the vehicle.
When the motorcycle needs to be detached, the front hood pops up, and the motorcycle is jettisoned forward through the car’s nose, James Bond-style.
This is not the first time a carmaker has thought of combining the two otherwise entirely different means of transportation. Honda, a manufacturer of both this type of machines with equal success, proposed a trunk bike back in the 1980s. It was called the Motocompo.
Although entirely different as means of attachment to the car compared to Ford’s idea, it too was meant for those that at times needed to abandon their car in the middle of the crowded intersection and go riding at faster speeds.
This is exactly what Ford thinks might be a thing in the future: a motorcycle attached to the inside of the car, that can be released to provide extra mobility.
Officially, the gizmo is called “Vehicle with Integrated Electric Motorcycle.” The patent was published by the U.S. Patent & Trademark Office (USPTO) on April 26 and has been assigned to Ford Global Technologies.
The men behind the idea are three German nationals who believe that a multimodal transport machine is just what the crowded streets of the modern world need.
As per the provisions of the patent, the electric motorcycle is fitted between the driver and the passenger seats, with a securing apparatus stopping it from going berserk while still inside the vehicle.
When the motorcycle needs to be detached, the front hood pops up, and the motorcycle is jettisoned forward through the car’s nose, James Bond-style.
This is not the first time a carmaker has thought of combining the two otherwise entirely different means of transportation. Honda, a manufacturer of both this type of machines with equal success, proposed a trunk bike back in the 1980s. It was called the Motocompo.
Although entirely different as means of attachment to the car compared to Ford’s idea, it too was meant for those that at times needed to abandon their car in the middle of the crowded intersection and go riding at faster speeds.
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