Posted on 10/01/2016 8:40:52 PM PDT by aquila48
Whether it's by the use of tiny car-lifting robots or totally spherical wheels, the idea of a car that can move effortlessly sidewise is an endlessly appealing one. Parallel parking becomes a dream, parking garage management becomes a piece of cake. And out of all the ways to make that dream come true, these "Liddiard Wheels" seem like a pretty compelling one.
Designed by one William Liddiard, the wheels are similar to the kind of "omni wheels" you'll find on some robots and heavy machinery. The difference with these is that they are on an actual car, they have one continuous surface, and they're a bolt-on modification. According to Liddiard, they can be slapped on any car.
As for general drivability, Liddiard makes some bold claims in the video's description:
[They're designed] to be used in all weather and road conditions. They are stronger, faster, and more accurately controlled than prior art. They can take a beating. The tires can have the same build characteristics (siping, grooves, rubber compounds etc.) as regular tires. All that said, they are just prototypes, and Liddiard is hoping to team up with a partner for help bringing them to market.
Of course any system like this is going to make everything around the wheels and tires much more complicated than it already is, as well require users to use non-standard tires. The ability to move sideways—cool as it is—might not be worth the trouble, especially with the self-driving car future seemingly on the horizon.
(Excerpt) Read more at popularmechanics.com ...
Just drive on black ice!
‘52 Chevy?
Man, that era of lowriding was old hat when I was a teenage lowrider 40 years ago. These days, the idjits all high ride on 30” rims with bandaid tires.
But you can bet your last dollar that the car customizing set will jump right on these, as soon as they’re available.
A guy I once worked for loaned me his cherry 1956 Chevy pickup to move my stuff to a new house. This was in 1994.
I almost turned him down, due to the fact that it was a classic, but I was out of options, so I accepted his offer with reluctance.
He asked me if I knew how to drive a stick, and I said, “Of course.” He gives me the keys and points to it out back. I thank him and climb in the truck. Only at that point did I realize it was an old fashioned ‘three on the tree’ type of shifter, which I’d never driven before.
Long story short, I figured out the gears and drove it just fine, but I can’t tell you how nerve wracking it was to use what I considered to be a museum piece for moving my furniture.
Road ice does the same thing.
GM built some production trucks with quadra steer.
Sure rocks and grit along with every other thing tires roll over will eventually create a failure...I think it is stupid in normal applications. it will be used somewhere but not everyday driving.
Lidiard wheels by the very nature require that the tires be very flexible and do not have defined flat surfaces ,,, in other words you get low/no speed maneuverability but greatly reduced braking and accelerating traction and lateral traction as the contact patch is very small and the supporting sidewall is necessarily weak.
Looks about as useful as the square wheel called the Wersherski. It went pol lock, pol lock, pol lock......
Yes, I did see the video...
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