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The Hyundai Tiger X-1 has four wheels, each powered by an electric motor. Each of these wheels is at the end of a long, foldable leg. The autonomous vehicle will roll as far as it can on its wheels, but when it encounters obstacles that it cannot overcome, it stands up on its legs and walks over them. The legs can also bend when the wheels roll over rough terrain, which keeps the cargo area level. The vehicle can also roll in any direction – forward, backward, or side to side – using either its wheels or its legs.
Hyundai plans to use it for difficult rescue operations following natural disasters such as earthquakes. A sort of stand-alone cargo carrier, it is not designed to transport people, only supplies.
The Tiger (which stands for Transforming Intelligent Ground Excursion Robot with “X-1” indicating its experimental nature), could also connect to an unmanned aerial drone that can transport it to and from remote locations, Hyundai said. The tiger and the drone can also recharge each other as needed.
According to Hyundai, this cargo-only Tiger will require at least five more years of development and testing before it’s ready for real-world use. A vehicle like like the Elevate which could transport people safely will take longer.
The Tiger is being developed by California-based New Horizons Studio, a division of Hyundai Motor Group that designs vehicles that can go where regular cars and trucks can’t.
Vehicles like this could be used to explore the surface of the moon or other planets, said John Suh, director of the New Horizons studio. They could also be used as taxis with their legs raising and lowering the vehicle to make it more accessible to people in wheelchairs, he said.
Hyundai is in talks to take over robotics company Boston Dynamics, but Hyundai executives have said Boston Dynamics is not involved in the project. Instead, Hyundai worked with design software company Autodesk and Sundberg-Ferar, a vehicle design company.
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