Toyota Dyna Virtual Concept Runs on Magnetic Propulsion

Folks, what you see in the cover photo is known as the Toyota Dyna. No, not the Dyna that most people have met in the past 60 or so years, but the Dyna that you may one day meet in the future. Yes, this is most certainly a concept and exists only on a hard drive somewhere or as a scale model. The mind behind this idea is one Andrew Tokarev of Saint Petersburg, Russia. Due to the logistics of past Dyna distribution, this gentleman most likely grew up seeing these driving round town.

Now, what you see is meant to be nothing more than an electric and autonomous cargo carrier. I know it looks odd and raises a whole lot of questions, but the designer does include some technological ideas that are meant to work together to get the darn thing moving while protecting whatever cargo is to be transported.

Speaking of movement, note the lack of any classic tires. One of the ideas that is to be employed in the concept is that of magnetic propulsion driven into spherical wheels that are supposed to mimic the same ideas and principles found in Goodyear’s Eagle 360 Urban concept tire. In short, the classic tire has been replaced by a globe that rotates in accord with what you need the vehicle to do. In doing so, this wheel system can stop instantly, turn on point, and even move laterally if needed, absolutely perfect for cargo shipping where yard space is sometimes limited.

To understand how the entire vehicle works, note that the bottom does not include any storage capabilities except to house the batteries meant to power the vehicle and other components used in securing, manipulating, and protecting the cargo that is to be placed on top. That’s right, cargo is to be placed atop the Dyna. But this raises an important question; how is cargo to be secured?

Seeing as how this concept takes place in the future, tie-downs are a thing of the past. Instead, this concept is to secure your cargo with something called Smart Cloth. To make it easier to understand what’s happening here, imagine those vacuum sealed freezer bags you’ve seen used for storing foods. That the sort of process that’s taking place here.

Once cargo is set in place atop the Dyna, a mechanism extends out of the frame and slides over the cargo, leaving behind that Smart Cloth mentioned earlier. This tarp-like cloth is composed of two layers of material, with a soft inner layer and rigid exterior, and interacts with electrons flowing through it to either harden of soften the shell, depending on the stage of shipping the product is in.

Once the cargo is covered entirely, the vacuums mentioned earlier, such all air out from underneath the cloth as to mold it around the cargo, in the process securing the cargo to the base. Electrons are then manipulated to harden the shell, protecting goods from any exterior forces.

Oddly enough, a similar system is used in transporting large cargo is employed today, minus the electron flow, powerful vacuums, or magnetic wheels. Still, this could very well be one direction in which things are headed. For now, however, this idea will remain just that, an idea.