The car that’s like a bicycle
Nasser Al Shawaf was frustrated by the fact that he didn't get any exercise when he drove to work. So he teamed up with Dutch firm BPO and together they've created a car that has bicycle pedals instead of a gas pedal. So, you have to pedal to get your car to move. The faster you pedal, the faster it goes. The brake is controlled with a hand lever. The details:
I suppose it would provide a disincentive to speeding if you had to pedal like crazy to keep going fast. So in that sense it's similar to the Deaccelerator that I posted about recently. Though it might make it hard to overtake people. After all, what if you got tired as you were trying to frantically pedal? And what if you were in mixed driving conditions where you had to switch rapidly from slow to fast speeds? How easy would it be to transition from slow to fast mode? Overall, I can only see this having very limited appeal.
More details.
The system essentially has three basic settings. In traffic, it has a "Drive Slow" option, while highway use necessitates the "Drive Fast" setting. When the car is stopped, but the driver still wants to exercise, there’s a "No Drive" option, which disengages the pedals from the throttle.
I suppose it would provide a disincentive to speeding if you had to pedal like crazy to keep going fast. So in that sense it's similar to the Deaccelerator that I posted about recently. Though it might make it hard to overtake people. After all, what if you got tired as you were trying to frantically pedal? And what if you were in mixed driving conditions where you had to switch rapidly from slow to fast speeds? How easy would it be to transition from slow to fast mode? Overall, I can only see this having very limited appeal.
More details.
Comments
You pedal to make it move and have a hand lever to make it stop. I had one in the 50s but then again I was only 5.
Posted by F.U.D. on 01/20/19 at 07:09 AM
The Flintstone would have loved this car.
Posted by Yudith on 01/20/19 at 08:56 AM
How stupid - a treadmill in an automobile.
Posted by KDP on 01/20/19 at 06:19 PM
This reminds me of an old Johnny Carson joke.
A retired sports-car mechanic in California took up bicycling to keep himself in shape. He was out for a ride, when he came across a stalled sports car. He just had to help fix it. But, by the time he and the owner were done, it was getting dark. There was a spare seat in the sports car for him, but no place to stow the bicycle.
The owner offered to tie a rope from the rear bumper to the bicycle, and tow him home. The cyclist was concerned that maybe they'd go too fast, so the owner told him to ring his bell if that happened.
They went many miles like that, when, all of a sudden, they met another sports car at a stoplight. Well, the two drivers, after exchanging a few nods, decided to race. The old guy on the bicycle was frantically ringing his bell to get his driver to slow down.
This got the attention of some Chippies (CHP= California Highway Patrol) in a helicopter overhead. One pointed out what was happening below -- two sports cars in an impromptu race, which is not that unusual, but what amazed them was the old guy on a bicycle trying to pass them.
A retired sports-car mechanic in California took up bicycling to keep himself in shape. He was out for a ride, when he came across a stalled sports car. He just had to help fix it. But, by the time he and the owner were done, it was getting dark. There was a spare seat in the sports car for him, but no place to stow the bicycle.
The owner offered to tie a rope from the rear bumper to the bicycle, and tow him home. The cyclist was concerned that maybe they'd go too fast, so the owner told him to ring his bell if that happened.
They went many miles like that, when, all of a sudden, they met another sports car at a stoplight. Well, the two drivers, after exchanging a few nods, decided to race. The old guy on the bicycle was frantically ringing his bell to get his driver to slow down.
This got the attention of some Chippies (CHP= California Highway Patrol) in a helicopter overhead. One pointed out what was happening below -- two sports cars in an impromptu race, which is not that unusual, but what amazed them was the old guy on a bicycle trying to pass them.
Posted by Joshua Zev Levin, Ph.D. on 01/25/19 at 10:23 PM
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Category: Bicycles and Other Human-powered Vehicles | Inventions | Cars