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It's Not a Car, It's a Self-Balancing Electric Motorcycle (Video)
Two gyros under the seat keep this vehicle standing up at a stop, which is easier on the driver's legs than putting a foot down the way you do while riding most motorcycles. And no vroom-vroom sound, either. This is an electric motorcycle. The prototype you see in the video gets up to around 20 MPH, but production models are supposed to hit 100 MPH, and go as far as a Tesla S on 1/6 the juice. So little tiny batteries are all the Lit C-1 needs to drive (up to) 200 miles with the gyros spinning merrily away -- keeping the C-1 upright even in crashes, as a simulation in this Lit Motors YouTube video shows. They claim to have more than 200 pre-orders against a projected retail price of $24,000, which is not shabby for a company that hasn't made a single production vehicle so far. (Alternate Video Link)
Mr Garrison?
It's not a car.
That's a cage. That's a car.
No beer and no TV make Homer something something
Hipster Mobile for the Glasshole crowd.
If you want news from today, you have to come back tomorrow.
The gyos add complexity, and dropping a third wheel doesn't save that much space. See Riley's classic http://www.amazon.com/Alternat... or just search for some of his existing designs.
As a previous owner of a Sparrow, I wish these guys luck. Unfortunately, I need a three seater ...my trusty (actual) motorcycle sits idle since I've too often got to worry about hauling two kids these days.
Flash video? Seriously? Slashdot continues its slide into irrelevance.
Guaranteed death in a car accident -- what's not to love?
They are not as original as they claim. There was a similar concept in kit car magazines in the 90's. There is a Youtube video (Yes, it is Flash but so is the video on the story)- https://www.youtube.com/watch?...
I don't need a new car, and probably won't for a few years. But this will be my next car when I'm ready to buy one.
Gyrocars are nothing new. The design is about 100 years old. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Gyrocar What makes this one so special and why do they think this gyrocar will succeed where others have failed?
I wish I didn't wait through the advert just to hear the guy speak. What's the point of a video of a vehicle that's not moving?
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I think I've seen that design somewhere before, but I can't remember where/when.
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The wheels are very close to the chassis. I wonder whether the vehicle has any suspension at all.
Everyone who ever rode a motorcycle knows very well they those things already self-balance to an impressive degree. Even if you wanted, you couldn't make one simply fall over (short of giving the handlebar a huge jerk)
CLI paste? paste.pr0.tips!
I like it when my brakes stop me before I slide into something.
(I ride a motorcycle, I find riding in the rain to be unpleasant for a variety of reasons)
“Common sense is not so common.” — Voltaire
Does it come with air conditioning? Wonder if you could have a two-seater?
The key to this one is that you don't need to put feet down when stopped, so it can be recumbant and fully-enclosed.
So, if you take the thing to its limits, you'd better remember to get out before the battery completely dies. Because when the gyro stops turning, you can't put your feet down (since there is a vehicle body in the way) to keep the thing from falling over.
Not that I think the idea is a bad one in general.
I saw a Kickstarter campaign just the other day using this concept to replace training wheels in kids' bikes (a gyro goes in the front wheel). Personally, I think it was a better idea in the kids' bike than on a motorbike. And that Kickstarter video had actual footage of the concept in action, with kids riding bikes, and a shot of the bike rolling with no one on it and self correcting when somebody smacked it several times in a manner that would normally knock a bike over).
Wonder if you could have a two-seater?
Yes. The video shows a prototype with a rack of control circuitry behind the driver's seat, but near the end he mentions how they've miniaturized the circuitry enough since this prototype was built to replace it with a second seat.
I don't want to be in a vehicle that has a large high speed gyro directly underneath my ass.
I also ride a motorcycle, and I agree that riding in the rain on downhills or over those metal construction plates can be very harrowing. Maybe the gyros will help with that to some extent.
Riding in the raid is a state of mind. It helps if you have a warm shower and dry towels at the end of your ride.
If it's cold or torrential, that's a different story.
raid->rain
I like it when my brakes stop me before I slide into something.
(I ride a motorcycle, I find riding in the rain to be unpleasant for a variety of reasons)
I like to learn physics and see that the number of wheels has nothing to do with it.
http://easycalculation.com/physics/classical-physics/learn-static-friction.php
200 pre orders?? Screw that. The Elio has 20,000 pre-orders, and it's not built yet, has a nice low (projected) cost of $6800 and gets 84mpg. And I'd much rather have the Elio than the C-1 (although for a brief moment, I considered the C-1)... But for the long range I need, the Elio fits my requirements better.
http://www.eliomotors.com/
If telephones are outlawed, then only outlaws will have telephones.
I haven't looked at the Slashdot video, but on YouTube there's no sign of it turning corners. What effect will the gyros have on that?
Sure this isn't quite a motorcycle or a car but its been long known that any propulsion system is more effective for two wheels vs four. The crux of the electric market is limited range but for a motorcycle ypy generally operate in a limited range anyway to cruise to work or leisure. This seems to be the best suit for electric currently from a use vs cost aspect.
and its still neither a motor cycle nor a car
slashdot your number one source to find out what was new and cool last year
Yeah, and don't forget that "loud pipes save lives" around typical inattentive drivers. This thing is silent but deadly.
A coworker of mine thought that.
He was STILL clobbered because of a dingbat driving her well sound insulated white SUV - and drove off; never to be caught for hit and run.
He's pretty screwed up but can still program.
As for me, walking on the side fo the road to have some narcissistic assholes cruising along at 10MPH - twisting their throttle - VROOM! VROOM! VROOM! - with their fat guts and gray hair hanging out of their over priced leather outfits, just has me putting my fingers in my ears, shaking my head and feeling sorry for such losers who have nothing better in their lives than to spend too much money on crap and live a delusion that they are "born to be wild" on weekends and have to go to their souless corporate drone lives on Monday.
4 wheels is a car. Cars have a metric shit-load of regulations associated with production, testing, warranty. Many of these are specific barriers to entry to prevent new car companies from entering the market.
2 wheels allows them to avoid all that and build something that is ultra-light and efficient and can be brought to market. Bravo for them.
I guess you didn't get to the next chapter on kinetic friction? http://easycalculation.com/phy...
Once I have to worry about static frication I've already spun out of control.
And that the coefficient of friction(mu_k) of a four wheeled car is different than a two wheel motorcycle.
Of course what is also really nice is a high coefficient of traction, so you don't slide out of a flat curve (non-banked). But because traction does depend on loaded weight, having extra tires is of a huge benefit.
It's all smoke and mirrors like the VentureOne, and the Moller Skycar.
I used to hate trikes too, but like you say, they are the only way for a lot of older people and people with injuries to enjoy riding. Now I appreciate the vehicles for what they are.
To be fair, motorcycles have a rider in a standing position. I wouldn't look forward to trying to balance that thing from that reclined position with any kind of cross-wind.
Is this article targeted at 4 year olds?
The gyro would be a flywheel to store some of the power of downhills and flat pedaling, to be expended as a booster on uphills. And because a storage flywheel of this kind would at most times be at maximum speed at signals and stops on the flat, cyclists would no longer have an excuse to not follow traffic controls. Your feet could remain firmly in the pedal clips when you stop at the Stop sign.
If you're balancing your motorcycle by only shifting your weight around, you're doing something wrong.
It's actually not even possible to do that, because if you shift your body to the left, the motorcycle will tilt to the right and the center of mass will be on the exact same vertical line as it was before, exactly above the wheels. You balance by steering. If you get a crosswind from the left, you'll steer to the right slightly, moving the center of mass a tad to the right, but the point of contact with the ground even moreso. That way your motorcycle (and you with it) will lean a bit to the left counteracting the crosswind. This works exactly thesame on any two-wheeler like a motorcycle, scooter or a reclining motorcycle. You intuitively do thesame while steering. You don't steer the motorcycle left to go left. You steer it right, resulting in a controlled tilt to the left which you compensate by going round a bend. And knowing this can help you when you end up in a tight spot when you underestimated a bend. If you threaten to go off in a bend, pull the handlebar on the "wrong" side of the steeringwheel. This'll jolt you even flatter, and you will very likely make it through unscathed.
Manuals are your last resort only
How original. And how difficult to read for partially sighted users.
I like it when my brakes stop me before I slide into something.
Motorcycles are actually better at stopping than most cars. Ever heard of a stopee?
(I ride a motorcycle, I find riding in the rain to be unpleasant for a variety of reasons)
Yes, because if you manage to get your motorcycle's front wheel to slide, it usually means you fall will over. But, that's exactly one of the reasons why the C-1 is so cool: it's gyroscopically stabilized, so if it slides for whatever reason it won't fall over. In that respect it will behave much like a car.
Revamp it to the form factor of a TRON lightcycle and, my friends, we have a winner.
You're describing the effects of gyroscopic precession, not the results of weight shifting. How long have you been riding?
What is going on with the "Strange" way a motorcycle steers is gyroscopic precession.
That big spinning wheel in the front of the motorcycle is acting as a gyroscope.
Why is it so hard to only have politicians for a few years, then have them go away?
Don't forget countersteering too!
Bring back the old version of slashdot.
I could've gone into details about centrepetal forces and gyroscopic precession, but I chose not to, because it's not important from a rider's stance. Interesting from a phycisist's stance perhaps, but when riding, what matters is what forcefully steering or weight-shifting does to your bike, and to rest DocSavage64109's concerns about balance in crosswinds with a reclining motorcycle.
Also, the gyroscopic precession effect plays a large part with big wheeled motorcycles, but plays little to no part on motorscooters and other small wheeled two-wheelers, and this device has very little wheels so I doubt it has any noticeable effect.
Manuals are your last resort only
Riding in the raid is a state of mind.
Maybe if you're raiding a fishing village. If you're raiding a castle, you need a hell of a lot more than a warm shower and dry towels at the end.
Seems like overkill to me. I have ridden some good sized bikes and, I mean, this was an issue for a little while, until I realized that I didn't really need to hold up that much weight. You know the bike, it has this big wheels....they can take the bike's weight, leave it on them. You don't need to take that much weight on your leg to keep stable.
Once in motion, the bike has two big rubber flywheels that do a great job of "self balancing". Overall I think the MSF course is probably a better buy than a bike with an extra flywheel. I actually learned on my own in a parking lot before I took the course and had to break myself of a bunch of bad habits, including how I sat at a stop.
"I opened my eyes, and everything went dark again"
Not on my cruiser. No standing position at all. More akin to a recliner position, if anything...
Browsing at +1 - no ACs, I ignore their posts. So refreshing!
Lots of sneering from motorcyclists, that's to be expected. But in fact this type of design has been attempted for many years (it's called the "feet forwards" or FF motorcycle) and the rationale for it is pretty sound: a small, efficient, personal transport that is as nimble as a motorcycle but has the comfort of a car.
The main problem with attempts made to date has been the one of staying upright when stationary. Some designs had open sides so you could use your feet, but that obviously compromises bad-weather comfort. Others have pop-down stabilisers but that's inelegant and difficult to make work at the right moment. If this has solved that problem and truly allows an enclosed cabin, they might have actually finally done it. I think this could well have a significant market, but probably not one with existing die-hard motorcyclists. I like it; it's pretty cool and I wish them well.
While batteries are at the energy densities they are, this size of vehicle makes a lot more sense than an SUV-sized behemoth. I've done the maths, and excellent performance and range are perfectly doable with LiPO4 technology, 20kW of power at a gross vehicle weight of 400kg. I think it definitely has a future.
According to these stats for Canada in 2009, car drivers suffered about 1173 deaths and 5393 serious injuries while among motorcyclists there were 194 deaths and 1271 serious injuries.
According to the U.S. National Highway Traffic Safety Administration (NHTSA), in 2006, 13.10 cars out of 100,000 ended up in fatal crashes. The rate for motorcycles is 72.34 per 100,000 registered motorcycles. Motorcycles also have a higher fatality rate per unit of distance travelled when compared with automobiles. Per vehicle mile traveled, motorcyclists' risk of a fatal crash is 35 times greater than a passenger car. In 2004, figures from the UK Department for Transport indicated that motorcycles have 16 times the rate of serious injuries compared to cars, and double the rate of bicycles.
Additional data from the United States reveals that there are over four million motorcycles registered in the United States. Motorcycle fatalities represent approximately five percent of all highway fatalities each year, yet motorcycles represent just two percent of all registered vehicles in the United States. One of the main reasons motorcyclists are killed in crashes is because the motorcycle itself provides virtually no protection in a crash. For example, approximately 80 percent of reported motorcycle crashes result in injury or death; a comparable figure for automobiles is about 20 percent.
Motorcycle safety
Scooters are not motorcycles.
Why is it so hard to only have politicians for a few years, then have them go away?
... poeple won't want it. People want a nice big car where they can put lots of shopping, the prams, the mother in law, a cup of coffee in the coffee holder etc...
Also, are these batteries really better for the environment/planet than petrol? Even if you believe all of the Co2 BS, are they really better for the planet?
http://www.edmunds.com/car-new...
My first thought was "Ooh, a new C1".
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/BMW_C1
And then I noticed the [future] manufacturer's proposed name.
Anyone else notice that none of the videos show the vehicle turning? We can only see it going straight.
I hate /. videos. They're totally pointless because they convey no information that you couldn't push faster and more efficiently with a few screenshots and a transcript. They're just lazy journalism - a real journalist would take this, sit down with it and make a proper article out of it.
Here's a video where you can actually see the thing drive, as well as a bit of its interior workings:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?...
There's more on Youtube and probably elsewhere. It's a pretty cool concept actually, the stupid video doesn't do it justice.
Assorted stuff I do sometimes: Lemuria.org
From all the possible names for a motorcycle, they felt they had to choose the one which is most likely to get them sued for trademark violation?
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bmw_C1
Covered and innovative motorcycle by BMW, in production 2000-2003.
You don't want tires if you want to stop quickly.
Warning: When stopping in these things they tilt forward. A car behind you will not stop as fast and could slide under it. When you have stopped you will fall back, crushing the car and the driver.
Well, I might have a way, but it only works on a semi spherical planet in a vacuum.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Gyro_monorail
This?
You don't want tires if you want to stop quickly.
You could have just linked to this video instead.
(for the click-averse: It's a Leopard 2 tank from the Netherlands demonstrating its emergency brake system by going full tilt towards a line of people (allegedly the inventors of said emergency brake system) and then hitting the brakes).
"Total destruction the only solution" - Bob Marley
I am continually amazed at the lengths people will go to to complicate a very simple and elegant machine. The traditional motorcycle chassis is simply a lever rotating around the headstock allowing its rider to balance with just a few newtons input into either handlebar. Once in motion it is inherently stable (due to the gyro force of the wheels spinning) and must be 'knocked' off of its present course with a mild rider input. Of course at rest, there is the possibility of it falling over, but, the lever still works when stationary, albeit with slightly more force required, and the rider can always put a foot down for extra stability.
Are we a richer people for having downloaded an 'app' to do this, or would we be happier if we just used our minds and learned how to do stuff?!
Or maybe my moustache... is too rough.
I wonder if the fuselage could be considered a helmet. Silly I know, but....
Being able to put feet down requires a more upright and open riding position.
Removing that requirement enables a recumbant seating position (for better aerodynamics) and a fully-enclosed cabin. Making the cabin fully-enclosed allows for better protection from weather, better soundproofing, air conditioning, etc.
Except their 16mm projector version of a youtube demo included them crossing a rocky riverbed.
BMW C1: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/BMW_C1
Wind gusts? Making a turn from a stop? Starting at an angle in a hill? Basically what this is is a recumbent motorcycle. Yeah, let's take a small visual target and make it smaller and lower, and more vulnerable for good measure. Oh, and blind spots? Nice head check right there. Luggage? You mean the gyros hold the thing upright while you load and unload, right? And stuff doesn't shift around either in the boot, huh. Let's see the software for that one. Oh you mean it's always on- hm, I see, nice energy savings. :) -- oh no wait, there's another electric ancillary for that too.
Then you hop in, the gyros have to start spinning first then you get on your way and the side stand takes care of itself in the next left-hander I guess
Or you are trying to say that you need a bubble around you? Oh I see. Well you could refurbish an old 1950's Dustbin racer you know. See how that works for you and why oh why did we go away from that design.
Go back to the bicycle recumbent. Ever went down a good downhill on one? Bet you didn't do that again. Just a note: the gyros will be unrelated to the engine speed below some point, so your low-speed leaning will just about never be the same one time to the other. Let's see you make a swerve in that vehicle. Which by the way begs the question... what kind of tyres will work correctly for it? Kind of a Gold Wing rear, what about the front?
Should I go on?
If you can't ride, you can't ride. It's not for everybody and there is no workaround either. I got a good laugh out of the "oh crap, I have to put a foot down" one.
Oh and about the motorcycle fatalities: adjust your statistics for the enormous number of riders who do not wear a helmet and therefore die instead of being horrifically injured like they would be in a car, and then trade in a large proportion of these fatalities for injuries in car accidents...
For 24K you can buy a decent, durable, safe vehicle that you can drive safely in all types of weather.
"The safety and the comfort of a car" is the kind of statement only someone "lit" could make with a straight face about this death-trap.
On the bright side, the more hipster douchbags that buy this piece of over-priced crap, and die as a result, the better.