Hyundai is sure to have one of the wildest booths at CES 2019, owing to a little something called the Elevate, a concept so out of the box it looks like it comes from Rinspeed and not a global auto brand. Using a different style of suspension lift, the robo-legged Elevate breezes over terrain that would incapacitate even the toughest production 4x4s.
Calling its walking electric concept car an "ultimate mobility vehicle" (UMV), Hyundai pulls the wheels out from under the arches and bolts them to a quartet of robotic legs. Instead of simply rolling over road and rubble, the Elevate can also step and climb, moving forward over landscapes that would stop other vehicles dead in their tracks.
Hyundai is holding additional details until next Monday's official debut gets closer, but it does promise to have an actual prototype at the show. We also hope to see some video of this thing in action.
While the Elevate looks quite unlike any Hyundai out there, it reminds us a little of a bigger, smarter version of the Swincar Spider we looked at in 2015. That little buggy didn't actually walk or climb with actuated legs, but its four e-powered wheels spun on legs with their own, a dramatic tilting suspension system designed to eat up uneven terrain.
Hyundai has been on a tear highlighting new technologies, announcing its fingerprint scanners last week ahead of this week's Elevate preview. Today it also revealed a video looking at an automated wireless charging/parking system it's working on. The driver activates the system via smartphone after drop-off, prompting the car to drive itself to a wireless charging pod before leaving the pod for a regular parking space when the battery is full.
Source: Hyundai
