The future of transport is here, in the form of a bicycle.
Ford have filed a patent for a new type of vehicle that is both a car and a bike, possibly inspired by Michael Bay's Transformers movies, we can't say for sure. Either way, they lodged a patent for the vehicle back in 2013, and it was made public this week, allowing people to get a look at how it might work.
The patent states that various pieces of the car could have a dual function, such as the headrest being used as a saddle, while the frame of the bike would be tucked into the vehicle itself. The jack becomes the mechanism by which the pedals work, allowing you to actually cycle the thing, but instead of a regular chain drive, they've decided to go for a worm-gear system.
Pic via Wall Street Journal/Ford
The reason behind their innovative idea is stated in the filing for the patent, where they note that "mobility in urban areas becomes increasing difficult with population growth. Adding roads or increasing the size of existing roads to accommodate more passenger vehicles in urban areas can be onerous". The main problem with this design is of course the fact that it might be quite difficult to actually do all the steps that turn the car into a bike, and users might not be into that, but you can't fault them for thinking outside the box.
In a statement about the design, Ford said that the patent was simply to protect the design and that it may never actually see the light of day, as is the case with a lot of patent applications. As of yet, they have not received a patent on it.
While the idea of a bike in a car is all well and good, frankly we've already seen how the future should look when it comes to cramming vehicles inside other vehicles.
