Rubik's Cubic Car

Roland touched the spot on top of his head carefully, not sure what he'd find. It came away slightly damp, as he rubbed the substance between thumb and forefinger... slippery... and smelled it, carefully... oil? Car polish?

Another drop hit the same spot and he looked up. There was a car? suspended between the walls of the alley, above me. Liquid was dripping out of it, somewhere.

Roland stepped out of the line of fire, and took a better look at this machine I had discovered. He was still gawking at it when a woman's voice beside him said, "Would you like a ride? I parked it up there, because it's free."

Roland guessed she must have had some sort of remote controller, because the "vehicle" (was a better word) scooted down the two walls, shot forward a few metres, to avoid a pair of rubbish bins, and settled gently to the ground in front of them.

It appeared to have wheels on each of the three visible sides on each corner of its surface. Well, not wheels, but rounded rubber surfaces, four apparent on each of the six sides of the cubic vehicle and caged somehow into the corners of the vehicle. Two of the non-wheeled panels (centre and mid-bottom) whirred forwards, toward Roland and his new companion, Senia (from Hungary, she said) stepped around the panel and inside, settling into one of the two seats, motioning Roland to the other.

An engine came to life, under the seats, and the "door" slid closed. The panels were clear from in here, though they had looked like deep, maroon mirrors from the outside.

She pressed four buttons on the touchscreen in front of her, and the "car" began rolling forward, faster as she pressed on the control yoke. Then, something happened! Roland was aware of the lateral pressure of the seat against his left side, and he realised they had just made a 90 degree turn, without swinging through the normal arc a car might. All he heard was a series of quick mechanical noises, as the electric drivemotors (balls, wheels... whatever, Roland was struggling to understand the information overload spewing out of Senia) changed their direction of application of the "wheels".

Senia explained it thus: The engine has 24 of these powerful little electric motors, running off a hybrid-fuelled generator that comprises the engine. When you change direction, a computer figures out which wheels are best to use, and which two of the three drivemotors in contact with each wheel (think of a giant mouseball) are best to propel The Cube in the desired direction. The seating/engine module was mounted in a giant gimbal. "If it tips over, it just engages the two new wheels now in contact with the ground, while the seating position remains horizontal", she explained.

The wheels can be extended outwards, to increase ground clearance, using some of the suspension travel to allow this.

Apparently, the trick in the alley was possible as all eight wheels were in contact with the walls, simultaneously, and the continuously variable transmission could be geared to a final drive ratio from almost 75:1 up to 2:1.

Roland was hooked. He wanted one. Cars that sat on four, or even six, wheels and designed to travel best in one direction suddenly seemed so passe.