[HN Gopher] Will Citroen manage to re-invent the wheel?
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Will Citroen manage to re-invent the wheel?
Author : simonebrunozzi
Score : 48 points
Date : 2021-12-29 12:44 UTC (1 days ago)
(HTM) web link (medium.com)
(TXT) w3m dump (medium.com)
| amelius wrote:
| Those semi-open wheelcases are a safety hazard.
| devadvance wrote:
| Putting aside gripping strength versus traditional wheels for a
| moment, it would be interesting to see if this would enable more
| efficient street geometries. For example, due to the reduced
| turning radius, could this open up additional safety buffer space
| for pedestrians at city crosswalks?
| dathinab wrote:
| You can only reduce turning radius when you also reduce speed.
|
| For many cars and ares in the world the turning radius usable
| on small streets is not really a problem.
|
| > open up additional safety buffer space
|
| I don't think that matters, we already have very save cross
| road designs, we just need to use them.
| dpark wrote:
| These don't provide a better turning radius than traditional
| wheels. The reduced turning radius only happens because the
| left and right wheels can spin independently, but you can do
| that with traditional wheels (but not traditional drive
| trains).
|
| I'm not sure that this does anything for pedestrian safety,
| though.
| ralusek wrote:
| Wheels like this could literally turn the car 360 degrees in
| place...
| dathinab wrote:
| Yes but only if you stand on a point, not in moving
| traffic.
|
| E.g. if you are on a bike you can have a hyper small
| turning radius, but only if you mover very very slow (but
| not too slow ;) ).
|
| The problem is requiring such a radius would be a safety
| hazard, as people would all the time not get the turn due
| to driving to fast, even if they literally started driving
| a moment ago due to a red traffic light.
| davidhyde wrote:
| What is the point of exposing the wheels like that? Seems to
| serve no purpose other than aesthetics and looks to be very
| dangerous (a finger and foot trap).
| blacksmith_tb wrote:
| We don't cover or shroud car tires much at present, and that
| doesn't cause injuries particularly? I do agree this design
| seems to be more aesthetic than practical (I'd like to see it
| in the rain...)
| sp332 wrote:
| Sure but tires these days have a bumper somewhere in the
| direction of travel. If the spherical tires are going
| straight sideways, it's more likely to catch something by
| accident. Also, you're not generally going to pinch your
| finger in a wheel well like you would with this arrangement.
| ryukafalz wrote:
| > Going for this feature will replace the (obligatory) stops at
| the gym before going to work although you might still find
| yourself appreciating the authenticity of going to an actual
| fitness place with humans alongside you.
|
| Ah yes, because the alternative to biking in place in a pod-car
| on your way to work is to bike in place in a gym. Not, say, to
| ride an actual bike to work and get your exercise in that way!
| (And have other humans alongside you to boot.)
| egypturnash wrote:
| Slower, too.
|
| _the Citroen Autonomous Mobility Vision has a top speed of
| only 25 km /h._
|
| Which is about 15.5 mph, for us backwards Americans. I think
| I'm faster than that on my cheap, shitty junker of a bicycle.
| Svip wrote:
| Seems slightly ironic for the company that invented the unibody
| to re-invent a separate chassis and body.
| dathinab wrote:
| This looks like a useful thing for special purpose areas, like
| like the kinds of areas like areas with a set of exhibition halls
| and similar.
|
| But thinking it makes sense "on a normal street" sound to me like
| a solution from an American world view bubble.
|
| Like e.g. the ground clearing of this thing is a catastrophe and
| speed bumps are a standard solutions for reducing people going
| gross over speed limits in many parts of the worlds (or the
| streets are less maintained, or the streets go steep up and down
| in the mountains).
|
| Similar for many parts of the world the _proven_ solution of cars
| is to have much less of them (and in some cases avoid unnecessary
| large cars). Which works out quite well in many cases. And has
| many benefits, like less resource wasted, less noise pollution,
| less air pollution, better local economics, etc. Many of this
| factors still apply to electric cars in some way or another.
|
| The only areas where such a concept makes sense is if you:
|
| - have supper well maintained roads
|
| - either have a super high population density (e.g. Tokyo, or
| Singapore) but then you probably don't have size for that fancy
| setup you can put onto it
|
| - or are supper dependent on cars to a point where it feels
| impossible to not rely on cars (many parts of the US)
| hk__2 wrote:
| The article really reads like "here is what some marketing people
| did and based on zero other information here is what we could
| expect or maybe not because as I said we don't have any
| information but here is some text just so you think there is more
| information when in fact there is nothing".
| dpark wrote:
| They're mocking the concept. That's why there's nothing
| interesting here. They think the idea is stupid.
|
| _" Well, perhaps when this solution comes out, the government
| will have made sure that every square foot of tarmac is
| perfectly level everywhere in the world. Yes, I think that's
| right. And anyway, in these clips previewing the car in a
| futuristic environment, you don't ever see any bumps in the
| road, now do you?"_
| dntrkv wrote:
| Exactly my thoughts. I kept thinking the interesting part is
| coming, but no, it's just someone's thoughts on a pre-alpha
| concept that nobody even pretends will ever become a reality.
| klyrs wrote:
| I'd love to watch this drive over a speedbump
| whatever1 wrote:
| What about grip? Spheres have so much less contact area compared
| to our cylindrical wheels
| dpark wrote:
| Do they? Tires only have significant contact area because they
| deform. I would expect that with the right air pressure, these
| would match the contact area.
|
| I'm more concerned about the fact that the tires have no actual
| tread, which means they're going to be unusable in the rain. Of
| course this whole thing makes no sense so none of this matters.
| melenaboija wrote:
| It may still be useful for warehousing and indoor spaces
| dpark wrote:
| I had that same immediate thought and then realized that it
| doesn't make sense there either. The interchangeable tops seems
| uninteresting and the spherical "wheels" don't seem to deliver
| any real value over wheels, just more complexity.
| carlmr wrote:
| >The interchangeable tops seems uninteresting
|
| The interchangeable tops would be whats loaded in the
| warehouse.
|
| >and the spherical "wheels" don't seem to deliver any real
| value over wheels, just more complexity.
|
| They take away a lot of navigational complexity in a
| warehouse setting where you don't have much space. And they
| could do exactly the maneuvers necessary in that setting,
| like bringing a package directly into its designated space,
| unloading it and then driving out underneath.
| rmason wrote:
| Forget the imagined future. What's needed now is a sled complete
| with batteries and electric motor(s) utilizing regular tires. You
| know how many people in places like Detroit have the skill set to
| build electric cars with that small amount of help? Create a
| fiberglass body, source an interior and software and you're in
| business.
|
| Admittedly you won't compete against Tesla or the Big 3 but there
| are plenty of niches where you might. They won't all be sports
| cars either. Taxis, police cars or special purpose delivery
| vehicles.
|
| There are small profitable niches where no one has even
| entertained the idea of battery powered cars yet. I love the idea
| of a one pizza car company operating out of what now is an
| abandoned warehouse in Detroit.
| agumonkey wrote:
| https://archive.md/xlM3c
| trhway wrote:
| there is no need for such radical approach. With electric motor
| in the wheel instead of having a drive shaft, we can have regular
| wheels turning 90 degree and thus having car move even sideways.
| Someone wrote:
| A concept car is an exercise aimed at keeping your designers
| happy (might be cheaper and/or more effective than giving them a
| bonus at keeping them motivated in their job) and at, maybe,
| getting one or two good original and useful ideas.
|
| The customizability in this concept is the over-the-top version
| of what Citroen offers for the new Ami, where about EUR60 will
| buy you a set of stickers (https://ma-belle-
| voiture.com/en/72-citroen-ami) (I also think the idea of having
| different 'tops' for a car isn't new, but can't find an example
| online)
| tromp wrote:
| Discussed 3 months ago at
| https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=28745304
| at_a_remove wrote:
| I seem to remember this about twenty years ago. Different
| company, but the same concept -- everything was in a
| "skateboard," with the main body being the batteries, each wheel
| had its own motor, and you could swap out compartments.
| yellow_lead wrote:
| > How does the car cope with zero ground clearance and what seems
| like no possible suspension travel. Well, perhaps when this
| solution comes out, the government will have made sure that every
| square foot of tarmac is perfectly level everywhere in the world.
|
| Can't tell if this is satire.
| dathinab wrote:
| Or it's from a POV of a supper car dependent person living in a
| supper car dependent area where that seems like something which
| will happen if humanity has a "good" future.
| Schroedingersat wrote:
| An electric car with a stationary bike in it.
|
| Yes. This is definitely the solution we need. There's no other
| way to get exercise whilst transporting yourself.
| lodovic wrote:
| This makes sense as it has a 25 km/h top speed
| Schroedingersat wrote:
| So same as an ebike or upright bicycle then?
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