Technically Speaking

Toyota has a vision of personal vehicles for the 21st century. Personal mobility devices, concept vehicles and helper robots, will be on display at the Toyota stand at the Expo 2005 in Aichi, Japan, in March 2005.

Built using environmentally friendly plant-based materials, the single passenger unit is equipped with intelligent transport system technologies that allow for safe autopilot driving in specially equipped lanes.

The model allows the user to make tight on-the-spot turns, move upright amongst other people at low speeds and can be easily switched into a reclining position at higher speeds.

Body colours can be customized to suit individual preferences and a personal recognition system offers both information and music.

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Toyota seems to be steering their innovative juices towards the advancement of wearable exoskeletons. I’m sure the interest for these types of inventions are high in the military arena, but will there be a demand in the civilian sector? The description of these devices give me the thought that the Segway is actually making good on its promise to revolutionize the world. The ideas in the Toyota prototypes enhance some of the already used mobility ideas by putting a coolness factor to them. Gone are the days of the motorized wheelchair, soon we will see the mobility challenged moving in style.

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