As the human population grows and cities and suburbs become more densely populated, and public transportation travels on a steady path of not being tailored to your schedule, society needs to find a better way to get around. With the E4U personal transport, Hyundai is looking to remove our need for cars, but get us around more efficiently than bicycles.
The eggmobile can maneuver in any direction even though its motor only moves in one. What makes this possible is, rather than a traditional tire, the E4U uses a semisphere that can rotate in all directions; it’s riding around on a ball. When the top of the semisphere is touching and vertically aligned to the ground, the vehicle moves by rotating the semisphere horizontally. Since the vehicle sits atop and is able to move due to what is a multidirectional ball, the two training wheels prevent the E4U from spinning uncontrollably. In order to move the vehicle in any direction without hindrance from the training wheels, the E4U simply tilts in a direction, lifting the wheels up off the floor. If that sounds complex, it works similarly to the way a helicopter works. Imagine the semisphere as the blades, and the training wheels as the tail rotor.
