Toyota i-REAL 2009 Review

George Jetson is probably old enough by now to need a mobility scooter. And this is just the thing.  The space-age i-REAL is the latest in a series of concepts developed over two years by a bunker of Toyota’s futurist engineers – with their eye mainly on a future traffic flow that includes some kind of cross between a motorcycle and a car as personal transport.

Powered from a lithium-ion battery, the three-wheeled machine has a range of 30km on a single charge, and can hit speeds of up to 30km/h.  For that kind of speed, it drops from its upright Walking mode into a lower and longer Cruising posture, and is able to tilt into the corners. At the end of the trip, it contracts into the smaller footprint of Park mode, which comes close to fitting into a large cupboard.

Sensors detect and work to avoid nearby objects and people, which holds the prospect of functionality for the visually impaired. And the machine can communicate with other i-REALS – or at least the other six built so far. 

Toyota’s i-REAL project manager Makoto Morita says it could be in the showrooms in four to five years if production costs can be produced. And he estimates it would be priced ‘somewhere between a motorcycle and a small car … the equivalent of about $4000-5000, perhaps’  He says two of the seven are already in limited application at Nagoya airport, near Toyota’s main facilities.

But we can’t help wondering if this is really a solution to future traffic woes. While a motorbike can take two people, the i-REAL – in its current shape – takes only one. And lying down, has a larger footprint on the road than a lot of motorbikes.

There is no protection from the weather, although we were shown concepts of a small curving hood that might well keep light mist off the user but would do little in the case of any half-decent rain.  And in concept for there is so far no indication of its crash-worthinesss, although the design team is working on improving it, Morita says.

“We are considering the safety and strength,” he says. “We are doing research into motorcycle accidents, and it is possible we will develop a passenger safety capsule.  We have to improve the safety to be like a car, or maybe a motorbike. (Toyota) has good experience in developing cars, but not with something like this.”

But Morita says the main delay in bringing the i-REAL to market will not be safety hurdles, but legislative ones.  “We will need new regulations for this vehicle,” Morita says. “We are negotiating with government, police and infrastructure authorities – they are all happy to work with us.”  Perhaps it will be that it could be allowed on bike paths or in the separated traffic lanes (such as those available in Japan and some European cities),” he says.

Where the i-REAL does score well is in the novelty fun stakes. Even our limited drive in Tokyo had us wanting to try it again.