Media Platforms Design TeamFord filed a patent earlier this month for a crazy new feature that would allow you to get around easily in congested urban areas. Instead of getting a tiny car or keeping your bike in the trunk all the time, they want you to pop off the back wheel, slap some handlebars and a seat on it, and take off on a self-balancing electric unicycle.Media Platforms Design TeamThe patent describes a car with “a self-propelled unicycle for selectively engaging the suspension system for use with the vehicle and selectively disengaging the suspension system for independent use.” An automatic jack would make it easy to lift the rear of the car and remove one of the wheels. Within the hub of the removed wheel is an electric motor. The seat and handlebar assembly with the battery is stored in the trunk until you want to ditch the car in a parking lot and take off on an electric unicycle that Andrew Liszewski of Gizmodo compared to a RYNO “microcycle.“View full post on YoutubeAt this point, Ford is simply patenting the technology in case they ever actually decide to push the design into production. We like where they’re headed. Who doesn’t want a Batpod?Media Platforms Design TeamSource: Patent Yogi via Gizmodo Jay BennettAssociate Editor Jay Bennett is the associate editor of PopularMechanics.com. He has also written for Smithsonian, Popular Science and Outside Magazine.
