February 13, 2020
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Mobility as a service
THE Best in Show award at last week’s Verona Motor Bike Expo in Italy went to “Project BMW R1100S”, by Milanese companies Radikal Chopper and Officine Mermaid, which created this chromed piece of steampunk art using hand-made parts.
Motiv is a single-seat pod designed to slip into autonomous traffic streams of future cities ALWYN VIJOEN GORDON Murray Design has partnered with Delta Motorsport and itMoves to build the Motiv — a autonomous vehicle platform with lines that remind strongly of the Fiat Multipla’s ugly but highly ergonomic double-chin design. Part-funded through the UK-government’s “IDP14” programme, the Motiv is a “cost-effective, ultra-lightweight quadricycle vehicle platform that is designed to meet full passengercar crash safety requirements”. Engineered using Gordon Murray Design’s iStream Superlight technology, the single-seater pod’s layout provides what its creators call a “private mobility experience” for the solo drivers who typically make up 80% of traffic in most cities. The Motiv is higher, but shorter, than the well-known Smart car, meaning two Motivs can easily park in a normal car’s parking space. NOT FOR PRIVATE USE The Motiv is not aimed at private owners, but future companies that rent out Mobility as a Service (MaaS). The consortium said the Motiv provides the opportunity for MaaS providers to use a product that is ready for immediate adaptation to driverless use with any form of autonomous technology. The companies’ next aim to partner with autonomous technology providers for multiple pilot studies.
The pod has air conditioning and a 24inch touch screen. The skateboard platform allows different cabin styles with a second seats, wheelchair ramps or cargo clamps to be bolted on.
The Motiv is Gordon Murray’s ‘private mobility experience’ designed to fit solo drivers into congested city traffic. PHOTOS: NEWSPRESS They hope to have the Motiv ready for mass production before 2025. UNDER THE FLOOR The Motiv is powered by a 20 kW electric motor and will be equipped with a 17,3 kWh liquid-cooled battery pack providing a potential range of up to 100 km. It moves operates at speeds of up to 65 km/h. The battery recharges
from 20% to 80% in just 40 minutes. Delta’s drive-by wire dedicated vehicle control architecture operates the steering, propulsion and braking. The electrical integration expertise provided by Delta Motorsport utilises a “plug-and-play” high-voltage system that significantly reduces cost, alongside production and assembly times. The braking and steering systems are
also small and lightweight for minimal intrusion into cabin space. INSIDE José Paris, director of itMoves, said the Motiv’s design philosophy is based on three points — a small footprint, first class interior, and a city-friendly image. A gull-wing door provides a big opening to load passengers or parcels.
LOTS OF LIGHTNESS ADDED Murray’s Superlight technology takes inspiration from aircraft design, with a high-strength, extruded aluminium chassis, composite panels and aluminium suspension to keep the vehicle’s weight (excluding batteries) below 450 kg, which allows it to license as a quadricycle in Europe. It is relatively safe too. Gordon Murray Design has engineered Motiv to conform to European passenger car (M1) crash safety standards, making it the first quadricycle to incorporate passenger car safety levels. Murray has been fanatic about “just adding lightness” since his days as a young racer in Durban, where he even filed down the bolts on his cars to reduce the weight. “The best way to make any vehicle commercially viable and cost-effective, while delivering first-class efficiency, is to make it as light as it can be while retaining the highest levels of safety,” he said in a statement. “With Motiv we have used our iStream technologies to create an ultra-lightweight body structure that delivers a vehicle that is compact, refined, safe and versatile, while remaining capable of significant range,” said Murray.
TRANSPORT INDUSTRY BRIEFS
AA: TRAFFIC DEPARTMENTS MUST PLAN FOR BLACKOUTS
• VOLVO Car AB and Geely Automobile Holdings Limited are considering combining their businesses to create global group. The combination would preserve the distinct identity of each of the brands Volvo, Geely, Lynk and Polestar. • Hyundai’s Tel Aviv-based CRADLE team has invested Autotalks’ “vehicle to everything” (V2X) chips that allows cars to signal other vehicles, traffic lights and, eventually, mobile phones. The system, which costs as
TRAFFIC law departments across South Africa who do not make every effort to mitigate the impact of rolling blackouts on traffic congestion, and traffic lawlessness, are not doing their jobs and are failing motorists in the towns and cities they serve. This is the view of the Automobile Association (AA), which says excuses by traffic departments of a lack of resources cannot be accepted any longer.
little as $100, broadcasts a car’s location, direction and speed up to 10 times per second to create a stream of connected traffic that can avoid problems on the road ahead. Hyundai said it plans to install the first Autotalks chipsets in cars from next year. • On the South Island of New Zealand, Wisk Aero, Boeing and Kitty Hawk are testing the first autonomous air taxi service with passengers, using a 13-rotor Cora. — WR.
Some of the measures the AA recommends for traffic law enforcement include immediately suspending roadblocks and traffic stops targeted at revenue collection which do not aid in the free flow of traffic; and redeploying all available traffic officials to major intersections and routes at peak times. “It’s been reported that the rolling blackouts could last for up to 18 months. We remind government that our country is a vehicle reliant soci-
ety and any threat to the free flow of traffic will result in major negative consequences for the economy,” the AA said. — WR.
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