Egg. Evolution. Electricity. Eco-friendliness. Those are the four E’s of Hyundai’s E4U, which they unveiled at the Seoul Motor Show. The most prominent of the E’s is clear the moment you see it. Yes, it’s an egg, and you’re supposed to ride around in it.
If you are one of those who believes that walking is overrated, that the Segway needs a segue, and that getting awkward stares from those you pass (or who pass you) is something to crave, the E4U is all yours. It even comes with a an amazingly odd helmet that only the geekiest of geeks would ever willingly wear.
At 176 lbs and with a top speed approaching 20 mph, the E4U is a personal mobility device that hopes to succeed where the Segway failed. The biggest problem that we see with this dream is the absolutely illogical way it is supposed to be driven. It is controlled by leaning and foot balance. This makes sense if leaning left made you move left and leaning forward made you move forward, but for some reason they decided to make it much more difficult than that.
If you lean left, you move forward. If you lean forward, you turn right. Read that again because it’s as confusing as it sounds. Leaning right makes you move backwards. Leaning backwards makes you turn left.
Confused? Try driving one. Even the demonstration driver mentioned to Tech-On that, “without some practice, it does not move in the desired direction.”
Who wants to move in the direction they want to go anyway, right? Here’s the egg in “action”:
Leave a Reply