Alternatives To Automobiles in In-Town Neighborhoods

Personal Transportation Devices.
Now I don't expect everyone to take up jogging/speed-walking/bicycling. It just might not be practical all of the time. There is the time factor and what I like to call the southern sweat factor. Not to mention that it may be a while before people will feel confident using the standardized methods of people powered alternative transportation after sunset and before sunrise. But here are a few new things to consider.


Toyota
Is introducing a personal transportation device that is powered by electricity and can operate in bike lanes and sidewalks. Not bulking and obtrusive like the eary entries by Segway into the personal transportation market.
According to a recent article in Best Gadget Gifts "The Toyota Winglet is being touted as the Segway killer. It could indeed accomplish this if the functionality is better and the price lower than the $5000 Segway. Prototype versions were recently shown in Tokyo, but they are still in the development stages. Rumor has it that Toyots has targeted 2010 for a product launch."


Honda
I've seen a demonstration of the contender from Honda and according to GizMag "A self-balancing unicycle experimental vehicle from Honda to be shown at the Tokyo Motor Show next month might just be history in the making. Weighing less than 10kg, the 24 by 12 by 6-inch U3-X experimental vehicle runs for an hour, is small enough to be carried onto an airplane as hand luggage, has a wheel which spins in two planes and is set to challenge, perhaps even change, society’s concept of personal mobility.

Little more than a century after mass market personal transport became a reality, it seems we’re set to have a mobility renaissance thanks to the need for zero emission vehicles, better electric motors, rapidly improving battery technology and the exploding field of material science." This is a fascinating piece of machinery I'd like to try myself.



Nissan
Gizmag also reports that "Now Nissan is getting in on the act with its own prototype developed in partnership with Japan’s National Advanced Institute of Science and Technology (AIST).

The device consists of two footboards, which balance upon two wheels – a main wheel and a smaller wheel on the outer side. Each footboard features a ski-pole-like handlebar to help the user maintain balance while in motion and a motor to drive the device at around 5kmh. When joined together tilt sensors inside the footboards detect the user’s shift in weight to turn. Sensors can also detect nearby obstacles allowing the possibility of the device being used to carry luggage that follows its owner around.

When the footboards are separated the device’s movement is limited to forward and reverse with turning accomplished in the same way as a stilt walker – lifting each leg and device and turning before placing it back on the ground.

There’s no indication of if or when it will enter production, but the AIST and Nissan say they will continue to develop the device."


What's missing here America?