The Toyota I-REAL?

April 09, 2009

    This concept is a little, ah…tricky to explain, so bear with me.

You know that comfy La-Z-Boy you have in your living room?  Imagine if it had three wheels, joysticks in both armrests that allowed you to steer right or left, a plug-in electric motor that would propel you on the sidewalks at walking-jogging speed and then gear up to speeds of up to 20 miles per hour on the streets, perimeter monitoring sensors that would alert you to other vehicles or pedestrians who might stray into your path, a wireless Internet connection, and an LED screen on the back of the chair that can both serve as a set of turn signals/brake lights and display the message of your choice to the rest of the world.

    What I’m describing is a Toyota i-REAL, a concept that the automaker describes as a “personal mobility vehicle,” a single-person conveyance designed for trips that are just a little too far for walking, but close enough that driving there in your conventional car seems excessive.

Keep reading...there's more!

The i-REAL could provide a convenient, energy-efficient, non-polluting way to roll around your neighborhood or even to commute to the office, if the route doesn’t require you to get on the freeway.

Such vehicles could help curb urban gridlock, by reducing the number of cars clogging the streets, and make parking less of a headache, since you could squeeze several of them into the space required for an SUV. In addition, the i-REAL could radically alter the social experience of urban and suburban travel. 

Instead of being elevated high over the street and isolated in a climate-controlled, sound-obscuring, tinted-glass cocoon, we’d be out in the open, where we would find it difficult to avoid eye contact with other i-REAL drivers and pedestrians, and possibly even feel compelled to exchange pleasantries.

On the other hand, the i-REAL might also prove to be as much of a pain in the posterior as a panacea. Unless Toyota adds a convertible roof, you wouldn’t want to be caught out in a sudden rainstorm in an open i-REAL, and there aren’t any airbags to protect you in the event of a crash. And there’s no windshield, so you’d have to be prepared to catch an occasional bug in your teeth. Navigating with twin joysticks instead of a steering wheel might be a little hard to get used to.

The i-REAL doesn’t offer much storage space, so don’t plan on buying anything bulkier than a bag of groceries while you’re out. The open passenger compartment wouldn’t afford much privacy. And if you already find those “my child is an honor student” or “commit random acts of kindness and senseless beauty” bumper stickers a bit irritating, you don’t want to think about the LED screen’s potential for bombarding you with unwanted information.

    If you’re still having trouble visualizing the i-REAL, here’s a YouTube clip of a Toyota demonstration of the vehicle at the Geneva Motor Show last year. Sorry, the audio is a bit rough.

Minimalist vehicles have been around for nearly as long as the automobile itself. In the 1910s and 1920s, avant-garde motorists cruised around in cyclecars, single and twin-seater contraptions that were a cross between a car and a motorcycle. After World War II, Europeans developed  “bubblecars” such as the Isetta, the  Messerschmitt KR-200 and the Goggomobil. 

Tiniest of all was the Peel P-50, manufactured on the Isle of Man in the early 1960s, which measured just 52 inches in length and 39 inches across and weighed in at 130 pounds. (For more info on classic microcars, check out Minutia, the online magazine of the Microcar and Minicar Club, and the Bruce Weiner Microcar Museum.) More recently, we’ve seen the Smart Car, which was dreamed up by Nicolas Hayek,  better known as the inventor of the Swatch watch.

MIT researchers and GM have developed a concept called the City Car, which would have the advantage of being both foldable and stackable. Conceivably, you could rent one from a sidewalk kiosk, drive it to wherever you need to go, and drop it off at another kiosk for the next traveler to use.

    The i-REAL, though, is something less than a car—and yet something more than the Segway, the two-wheeled, gyroscope-balanced electric single-person vehicle invented by Dean Kamen and unveiled with much hoopla in 2001.

Segways have nifty technology and a certain dweeby panache, to be sure, but riding around all  day in a standing position could get a bit tiresome. Plus, the i-REAL can go a bit faster—close to 20 MPH, compared to the Segway’s top speed of 12.5 MPH. The i-REAL’s big competition could come from a Segway-GM collaboration, Project PUMA (Personal Urban Mobility and Accessibility), a two-wheeled, two-seater electric vehicle that reportedly can reach speeds of up to 35 miles per hour. At PUMA’s unveiling this week in New York, however, reviews were a bit less than enthusiastic—Endgadget, for example, likened it to “a rickshaw without all the charm.”

So what do you think? Is there an i-REAL in your future? Or is a personal mobility vehicle a bit too cramped for your comfort? Express your opinion below

Comments

[Easter Bunny]

Would you still need to use a regular size parking space, or could you park an i-REAL on the sidewalk?

[Astroboy]

they need to get the top speed up to at least 100 mph.

[Caffeine Driven Stress Magnet]

I think the GM-Segway version looks more practical, since it has a roof.

[vicki]

If I had an i-Real, I probably would use my car a lot less, especially in the summertime.

[Mothra]

I think it's great for touring around. If other people rode them too, so that I wasn't the only one, I'd use one to commute to work. I see people getting really sluggish and lazy, though. The movie "Over the Hedge" where they say that people are slowly losing their ability to walk...that seems to be coming true.

[Mark Lowe]

I don't understand why you focused on the Toyota vehicle instead of the GM-Segway alternative. Don't you like American technology?

[Jacqui]

What colors do i-REALs come in?

[Patrick Kiger]

Hmmm. Maybe I should have done this as i-Real vs. Project Puma. Any thoughts?

[Nia]

I think this device will just make people even lazier. Instead of walking short distances they will just use the iReal. Segways make people lazy to.

[Natural Man]

I agree with Nia. What's so bad about just walking?

[Luke]

People are getting way to lazy. What about a bicycle for a greener way to travel? All the positives about the iReal mentioned in this article could be applied to a bike as well. The iReal is almost exactly like the floating chairs that carried around the obese human in the movie Wall-e. I can totally see humans heading in that direction.

[Ajlouny]

It looks like a glorified wheelchair. I don't like the design at all. It reminds me of the movie Wallee where all the people were really fat from not walking and just sit in chairs that take them everywhere.

[Edward the Bando]

That is one bad idea in my view. It would render the human population LAZY because you can use that to go to alot of places without any energy. Not only that, the new epidemic is rising, "FAST FOOD" and people are already starting to get lazy. I strongly disagree with this product and encourage walking to the location.

[LucFerris]

Wasn't there something like this in "Wall-E"?

[Matt]

I also have a revolutionary urban transport device. It's fast, maneuverable, easy to steer and park, completely pollution free, takes no batteries, and has the added benefit of providing the user with exercise. I call it the "bicycle."

[Person]

But what if it was the next gen wheelchair ... it will give people a better reach, put them in closer to eye level .. generaly would help them in social situations.

[Bryan]

Wow! This is realy cool and a very great invention. It just looks like the one we got today but with way more better features. One thing is we should never get used to the idea of just being lazy and making machines do to all the work. I think this invention is like the future wheel chair and a great way to get to places in a hurry but without using your car. It also seems usefull for touring a very large place and if possible to make this machine off-road it can be very usefull in any situation.

[kelly neuendorf.]

ok. why dont you just walk. thats a non polluting way of getting around. except for all the fat and lazy people driving cars. no ofense but it's true.

[Motor cars]

The i-Real is a cool gadget.
I would like one to go to work in it.

[Mitsubishi Cars]

Hey it just like the Segway but it has a sitting arrangement along. If it all has the more facility than the Segway the it will be a huge success.

[Antique trucks]

The video helps a lot in explaining the actual concept. Thanks for sharing the video.