Toyota believes that its i-Road three-wheeler electric vehicle might be the answer to the future transportation around a busy city. And a whole batch of them has been deployed in Toyota City for testing.
The i-Road is only a part out of Toyota’s Ha:mo efficient transportation network, which combines efficient EVs, with public transport vehicles and a software that centralizes data from all the system. This way, you can calculate the freest and quickest route to your destination and use a certain or a combination of vehicles to reach it.
For example, the i-Road EVs will be found in certain charging locations and you can check for their availability using a smartphone. You can even reserve one while on route to the nearest charging station and pick it up from there. All you need is to swipe a personal card on a special device, disconnect the power cord, get it, push Start and hit the gas... oh, I meant electricity... amps pedal... nevermind.
Despite being a very compact two-seater EV with doors on both sides, the i-Road also comes with an ingenious steering system that makes it highly maneuverable. The small wheel at the back does most of the steering job, but the two larger and slimmer ones in front can slide up and down, enabling the i-Road to lean around the bends.
Combining the two steering forms will give the impression you’re on a bike, despite sitting on a normal seat and steer using a steering wheel. However, at small speeds, it may give you the impression you’re drifting, because the wheel at the back will make the rear pivot around the front as you will see in the video bellow.
Google News