Too much chance of confusion - take the front bars off and stow on the cargo carrier. The first time the front rider saw danger before the usual rear steerer - an moving animal or child off to the side? - they would naturally try to steer away, fighting the other for control. Just replace the front bars with a fixed grab handle.

Oh the jokes I could make but I'd probably get deleted...though a certain bear would be happy to buy this bike.

There is already a bike called the Buddybike in North America. Designed FOR autistic children and others with special needs who can't bike alone safely. The rear person controls braking and steering. The front person who would usually be smaller can see and interact and you know what they are up to, unlike a regular tandem where the captain is up front. Great way for families with special needs members to get out there!

With handle bars with such leverage, I see the hugged kid becoming the banged kid when having to turn quickly.
the person who designed this clearly does not ride bikes often, especially not with kids in tow.

If you want to steer a tandem bike from the back seat it is not hard to build the linkage and you don't limit the turning capability at low speed.

Early tandems were dual-steering, allowing the shorter female to ride in front and see scenery more interesting than her partner's back. If you've never been the 'stoker' on a tandem you can't know how uncomfortable it is to have no forward vision and no steering input. Nice idea to let the kid ride in front but this is a poorly designed steering system that looks dangerous.

The buddy bike beat you to it. Lawsuit to follow. Patented dual handlebars on same stem.

~Starlord22~ They said autistic people designed this. Though I guess there had to be someone else.

~Schuyler 19~ - Autistic children *assemble* the bikes, not design them.

It looks like buddy bikes beat you to a really bad idea. It just goes to show that minds of a lesser intelligence also think alike. It may be better than having your kid sit on the handlebars or in your lap but not by much. They should have let the autistic assemblers design the bikes because they would most likely have seen the dangers of such a design. Good luck with the inevitable avalanche of pending lawsuits.
-Breakthrough idea! Why don't you raise the back handle bars to head level that way you can smack the kid in the head every time you have to make a sharp turn or have an accident and charge $4,500 for twice the expected damage.
Why would Gizmag do an article on this?