The bubble car, pioneered by Messerschmitt, Heinkel and others in the ’50s and ’60s, is coming back but with built-in the technology to tackle scarce road and parking space, pollution emissions and dwindling fossil fuels.
The two-wheeled EN-V is the product of a partnership between General Motors and Shanghai Automotive Industry and uses the balancing system developed by personal transport company Segway.
The EN-V’s platform is its chassis, which shifts forward on to a pair of landing wheels. Getting out through its transparent dome-shaped door is easy once the car is parked in a space less than half the size of a Mini.
The Independent reports the vehicle can reach 40kph, has a range of 40km, and offers infrared detectors to recognize body heat, ultrasonic detectors and radars to recognize objects, and can talk to other cars via a communication network.
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