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GM Skateboard Moves Along

BigglesBiggles <font color=#AAFFAA>The Man Without a Face</font>
in Zocalo v2.0
Most of you probably don't remember the [url=http://forums.firstones.com/showthread.php?s=&threadid=3082&highlight=skateboard]GM[/url] [url=http://www.gm.com/company/gmability/adv_tech/images/fact_sheets/hywire.html]skateboard[/url] (also known as Hy-Wire and AUTOnomy). It's basically the result of chucking out all that outdated rubbish and designing a vehicle from the ground up with modern technology.
Their highly advanced car concept is really getting somewhere now.

[url]http://www.autonews.com/news.cms?newsId=11088[/url]
[url]http://www.autoweek.com/files/specials/2005_detroit/gm/sequel/pages/1.htm[/url]
[url]http://www.autoweek.com/files/specials/2005_detroit/gm/sequel/sequel_info.doc[/url]

Comments

  • RubberEagleRubberEagle What's a rubber eagle used for, anyway?
    300 miles? I don't think my car has that range....
  • MessiahMessiah Failed Experiment
    Coolness. :)
  • Capt.MontoyaCapt.Montoya Ranger
    I first learned of this concept fro [url=http://www.sciam.com/article.cfm?articleID=00034FE5-BA99-1D80-90FB809EC5880000&sc=I100322]Scientific American[/url].
    I thought and still think it's a great idea.
    Cool to see it's moving closer to production.

    (Now it only needs changing the whole infrastructure from gasoline as fuel to hydrogen as fuel, including infrastructure for manufacturing, transporting and storing hydrogen, that seems to me the bigger challenge).
  • SanfamSanfam I like clocks.
    I'd even be willing to see a hybrid gas/electric Skateboard config pop into existence as a way of establishing the platform. When newer technologies become established, just buy a new spateboard.
  • RubberEagleRubberEagle What's a rubber eagle used for, anyway?
    Something that just occured to me: This thing could massively change the way we buy cars.
    Let's take a couple (a man and a woman, maybe married). They have a "limousine" (that's what the car type is called here..). Then they get a child, and they decide, they need a bigger car.
    Nowadays that would mean, get a new car, but with this thing, that could just mean get a new "top", but keep the skateboard. Which should be quite cheap compared to a totally new car...
  • BigglesBiggles <font color=#AAFFAA>The Man Without a Face</font>
    That, my rubbery, eaglely friend, is entire the point of the concept. As Sanfam and I discussed in ICQ yesterday, it'd be great if the interface was standardised in a similar way to the ATX standard, such that any manufacturer's skateboard would work with any manufacturer's chasis, with what's on the inside changing.
  • RubberEagleRubberEagle What's a rubber eagle used for, anyway?
    It would also open up the market for nontraditional car companies to make new chassis...
    Standardised Interfaces would be one of the toughest things to do though. I can imagine that most of the companies won't want to leave the possibility that someone uses a rival company's parts. Though someone would probably come up with adapters...
  • FreejackFreejack Jake the Not-so-Wise
    Another thing it could do is bring back the carriage makers of old. At the turn of the century, when what we consider to be the conventional car layout (not horseless carriages) was just coming into being, many car manufacturers didn't actually do body work. They simply designed and built the chassis and drivetrain, it was then shipped off to a carriage maker, who would wrap a body around that frame. This was especially true of luxury cars.

    Jake
  • AlaricAlaric Damn kids! Get off my island!
    I like that, a lot!
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