Toyota's i-ROAD Looks Like A Car Straight Out of Sci-Fi

Electric cars are becoming more popular now than ever before, the introduction of Elon Musk’s Tesla and its success as of late has positively impacted the entire electric car market.  But Tesla isn’t the only car company innovating in the electric car space, Toyota has been hard at work as well.  The company designed a new type of electric car that they are calling the i-ROAD.

The i-ROAD is an ultra-compact electric vehicle with only three wheels that is designed for short-distance city driving. The i-ROAD tops out with a max speed of approximately 30mph (45km/h) and  gets about 31 miles (50km) per charge (so don’t expect to take it on a highway).

One of the really interesting new technologies found in the i-ROAD is the Active Lean technology that automatically raises and lowers the front wheels to balance the vehicle on a 64 degree angle, even when turning sharply or on uneven or sloped roads. This keeps the driver safe and free from having to worry about keeping the car balanced.

A big push behind the i-ROAD is its ability to help reduce traffic in cities, people who use Ha:mo (Harmonious Mobility Network) with their i-ROAD will be able to take advantage of the ability to find the optimal route to their destination and therefore help reduce traffic and other pollution.  Obviously the more people who take part in Ha:mo the better.

While the car isn’t for sale yet and this may all seem really far off, the i-ROAD is actually already being driven on public roads in Japan and Toyota plans to have 70 more of them on the roads in Grenoble, France by the end of 2014.

It looks like it could be fun to drive and it sports some very cool technology, leaving me with the question: would you drive one of these around town?

Also, be sure to check out the video below:

This is a sponsored conversation written by me on behalf of Toyota. The opinions and text are all mine.