Ford Patents Rear Wheel That Can Double as a Unicycle

If you have a unicycle and are tired of lugging it around in your car, Ford may have just the solution. The automaker has patented a system that allows you to detach the rear wheel of your car to create an electric unicycle.

How does it work? According to the patent, the rear wheel is removed using a jack built into the car. The wheel disengages from the car’s suspension system and can be put on a unicycle frame for rideaway. A motor on the hub of the wheel powers the unicycle, which also has a stability controller to help it maintain balance on its own. The unicycle may also include buttons and a user interface just like one of today’s cars.

The patent says the unicycle could be used, of all things, to get to work. “As one example of this use, the driver may travel to a work office located in an urban setting congested by commuters by first driving the vehicle to a satellite parking lot in a less congested location spaced from the office and then driving the self-propelled unicycle from the vehicle to the office,” the patent reads.

Since very few people show up to work on a unicycle, Ford may have bigger plans with this patent. The system could end up working for bicycles, a more conventional form of transportation. Of course, just because Ford has been issued a patent doesn’t mean we’ll see anything like this appear on the market. Some of the company’s other recent patents include one for reconfigurable seats for autonomous cars and another for puddle lights that project an electric vehicle’s charge status on the ground below.

Source: U.S. Patent and Trademark Office

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