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Robotic taxi is sleek, small, seats two — but are our streets ready?
The idea of a car that drives itself has been kicking around for a while — especially as an automated urban people-mover — and that's exactly what designer Kubik Petr's robo-taxi is designed for. Looking a little bit like a Segway with a chassis, it seats two, is powered by electric motors and has space for luggage. While that low passenger limit is a concern, ideally there'd be a lot of these things on the streets and several could come to ferry large groups around, with passengers selecting where they want to go by way of a touchscreen in the cabin.
Of course, a design like this — as awesome as it is — sets off a few red flags. It doesn't look like it'd do well in a crash, for one, and its low clearance wouldn't accommodate anything but the most well-cared for, pristine street. And do we really have the infrastructure for something like this? Maybe if a city was built from the ground up for it — either way this wouldn't be good news for cabbies.
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Kubik Design, via Ecofriend
By Weebork at 6:43 PM ON 05/12/09
Where's the mechanical torso of a taxi driver that says, as you get in, "Welcome to Johnny Cab." ?
By nilus at 8:15 PM ON 05/12/09
For this to really work well it would have to have a reprogrammed voice with a very limited vocabulary and a heavy non-native accent to the area it works. It wouldn't feel like a taxi without that
By aaa at 6:18 AM ON 05/14/09
I like this product and blog really very nice and cool
By ? at 3:44 AM ON 05/18/09
is it in production line? is it ready for sale? if yes please send us price for 10+ , 100+ , 1000+ , also sen us specifications .
By ?? at 3:47 AM ON 05/18/09
send us specification & prices for 10+ , 100+ , 1000+
thanks
By Anonymous at 4:32 PM ON 05/25/09
can i buy 1 im looking 4 a very small car to get around in i live i brooklyn just me and my mom just us 2 she has had 2 cars in her hole life but her boyfriend keeps getting them stoleing so now we r having money problems and need a car i saw you add on tv 4 this wed site and i love it but when i seen the adds 4 the small car my mind went crazy i think its a good idea and we realy need one to get me and my mom to her job then i can drive my self to school every day my mom walks almost a mile and i hope you can help with this please write back soon thank you
By Anonymous at 5:16 PM ON 05/26/09
how much do it cost or can you tell me how to make 1 if you can send the info to my e-mail thank you so much and i realy like the ideas of smalls cars from roulhactajh98@gmail.com or send it to lytlethunda@aol.com
By Anonymous at 8:58 AM ON 06/03/09
Please send us more information , as we are a taxi magazine .
By adebola ariyo at 11:02 AM ON 07/22/09
this is sleeky.we are interested,get intouch soonest.
By awie! at 10:29 AM ON 10/23/09
this is a bad idea, it would cost a lot of people to be un-employed, anyone agree?
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