Car giant Ford unveils ‘spare wheel’ HOVERBOARD to whisk drivers from the car park to the office
The Carr-E mobility platform can carry a 19st person up to 14 miles with a top speed of 11mph
FORD is going hatchback to the future - with a new Marty Mcfly-style hoverboard to whisk commuters from their cars to the office.
The US car giant says the quirky Carr-E invention fits neatly in the boot space normally occupied by a spare wheel.
The flying saucer shaped four-wheeled "mobility platform" can carry a 19st person up to 14 miles with a top speed of 11mph.
It can also be used to carry heavy objects, and will follow closely behind its owner using paired electronic transmitters.
Ultrasonic sensors are fitted on the front so it can avoid obstacles and it has built-in GPS navigation.
Ford says the concept hoverboard is ideal for cities of the future.
Engineers predict vehicle access will be severely restricted in many cities, and drivers will be forced to complete the last mile of their journey on foot.
The Carr-E was developed by Kilian Vas, a Ford systems engineer based in Cologne, Germany.
He said: "We really need to reinvent the wheel, to find new approaches to mobility.
"When developing the Carr-E, I was inspired by Ford’s expansion into both an auto and a mobility company, but I’m also aware of how rapidly cities are growing and how getting around urban areas will become progressively more complicated.
"I really wanted to create a device that makes commuting easier and more fun."
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Carr-E was among 633 proposals for personal mobility solutions created by Ford employees as part of the company’s Last Mile Mobility Challenge.
It has been shortlisted for the finals alongside the TriCiti – a folding electric tricycle that can be easily adapted into a shopping trolley or a golf buggy - and the eChair concept, an electric wheelchair that loads itself into a vehicle.
Ford's Walter Pijls said: "Innovation and disruption is as much at the heart of how our engineers think now as it was when Henry Ford first set about transforming the way we move.
"Personal assistant devices can help people to cover the final kilometres of their journey quickly and easily, and to transport heavy objects they might not be able to carry."
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