FIELD OF THE INVENTION

[0001] The present invention generally relates to the field of motor vehicles.

BACKGROUND

[0002] Land transportation of people and goods has always been a necessity of civilization, with animals such as horses and donkeys providing power for transportation before the invention of electric and fuel-powered motor vehicles. Today, people often use personal vehicles for the transportation of people and goods (e.g., automobiles and trucks) rather than public transportation, due to the speed and convenience of personal vehicles. Personal vehicles permit:

• transportation from door-to-door in one ride, even when a trip is from or to a remote location;

• readily usable in practically all climate conditions;

• relatively comfortable;

• typically adaptable for use by people who have physical handicaps;

• useable for transporting objects that are heavy or bulky, as well as pets;

• provides a convivial atmosphere inside its compartment;

• becomes a mobile extension of a home, with the convenience of stopping for resting, eating, playing or working, at almost any chosen place.

[0003] However, convenient personal modes of transport and transportation has led to serious traffic problems and to a lack of availability of parking spaces. Lack of parking further increases the traffic problem, as drivers searching for parking continue to travel the streets. These circumstances take an economic toll and affect the quality of life. Smaller vehicle “footprints” is one way to address the problem.

SUMMARY

[0004] Embodiments of the present invention provide a vehicle for transporting people and objects (e.g., a vehicle that can serve as a passenger vehicle or as a truck), including an opening that serves as both a window and as a door, and which can be rotated to close and or open, alternately opening as a door for passengers either in a front section of the vehicle or a back section of the vehicle. The vehicle occupies a footprint that is only a fraction of typical footprints of most current vehicles, both when driven on roads and streets and when parked. Adaptation of the vehicle disclosed herein will increase usable space of parking lots, because the smaller vehicle size and a door that does not open outwards will permit more space devoted to parking rather than merely for access.

[0005] There is therefore provided, by embodiments of the present invention, a motor vehicle including a circular door system that includes a receptacle and a window, wherein the window rotates into the receptacle to create a door opening and wherein the receptacle rotates back to provide front section passenger access through the door opening and rotates forward to provide rear section passenger access through the door opening.

[0006] The vehicle may also have a front section having front wheels and a front wheelbase; a rear section having rear wheels and a rear wheelbase, and a telescoping mechanism connecting the front and rear sections. At least one traction motor, in at least one of the front or rear wheelbases, provides drive power to the respective front or rear wheels. A chargeable battery may provide power to the at least one traction motor, which may be operable to drive the respective front and rear wheels to be closer to each other, contracting the telescoping mechanism, to give the vehicle a compressed form having a compressed length. The at least one traction motor may be further operable to drive the respective front and rear wheels to be farther from each other, extending the telescoping mechanism, to give the vehicle an extended form having an extended length.

[0007] The at least one traction motor may also be configured to move the front and back wheelbases closer or farther from each other upon receiving a user-initiated signal when the vehicle is not driving.

[0008] The at least one traction motor may include one or more of an in-wheel, nearwheel or inter-wheel traction motor.

[0009] The vehicle may further include slots in a floor of the front section to receive the rear wheels when the vehicle is in the compressed form, and further including telescoping floorboards configured to slide into positions covering the slots when the vehicle is in the extended form. The front section may also have a front seat row that seats two passengers. The rear section may have a back seat row seating two or three passengers, such that the car, when contracted, has a seating capacity of two passengers, and, when extended, a seating capacity of four or five passengers.

[0010] The front section may have a front seat higher than a back seat of the rear section, such that legs of a passenger seated on the back seat extend under the front seat.

[0011] The rear section may have a back seat having a seat motor configured to raise and move forward the back seat to unload a passenger and/or goods from the rear section, and to move backward and lower the back seat to position the passenger and/or goods for driving.

[0012] The receptacle of the circular door system may be a quasi-half-circle, and the window may include two quarter-circles. BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF DRAWINGS

[0013] For a better understanding of various embodiments of the invention and to show how the same may be carried into effect, reference will now be made, by way of example, to the accompanying drawings. Structural details of the invention are shown to provide a fundamental understanding of the invention, the description, taken with the drawings, making apparent to those skilled in the art how the several forms of the invention may be embodied in practice. In the figures:

[0014] Figs. 1A-1C are schematic side, front, and back diagrams of a motor, vehicle, in accordance with an embodiment of the present invention;

[0015] Figs. 2A and 2B are schematic diagrams showing transformation of the motor vehicle from an extended to a compact form, in accordance with an embodiment of the present invention;

[0016] Fig. 3 shows a perspective, side view of telescoping elements of the motor vehicle, in accordance with an embodiment of the present invention;

[0017] Figs. 4A and 4B show a top view of telescoping elements of the motor vehicle, in accordance with an embodiment of the present invention;

[0018] Fig. 5 is a schematic diagram of passengers seated for transport in the motor vehicle, in accordance with an embodiment of the present invention;

[0019] Figs. 6A-6D are schematic diagrams of a circular window/door system (CWDS) of the motor vehicle; and

[0020] Figs. 7A and 7B are schematic diagrams of the CWDS when oriented for front and rear seat access, in accordance with an embodiment of the present invention. DETAILED DESCRIPTION

[0021] It is to be understood that the invention is not necessarily limited in its application to the details of construction and the arrangement of the components and/or methods set forth in the following description and/or illustrated in the drawings. The invention is capable of other embodiments or of being practiced or carried out in several ways.

[0022] Embodiments of the present invention provide a vehicle designed to improve traffic flow on streets and roads and to reduce parking shortages faced by cities. The vehicle disclosed herein has a minimal footprint for transport of passengers and/or objects, as well as for perpendicular pavement parking. A specially configured window/door system provides convenient loading of a transport compartment of the vehicle, suitable for passenger entry and exit, as well as for loading objects (also referred to herein as “goods”) to front and back sections of the vehicle. Telescoping elements permit the car to be compressed when the rear section is not needed for passenger and/or goods transport, both during travel and when parked.

[0023] Consequently, relatively narrow city streets that currently accommodate onesided “longitudinal” parking in the direction of traffic could now be transformed into streets permitting two-sided parking. Moreover, cities that have mixed-use areas, with both small residences and office buildings may be transformed into areas having private ground-floor and/or basement parking. Given the minimal footprint of the disclosed vehicle, basement parking could be provided by small lifts rather than the current entry paths that take up large areas.

[0024] Also, small lifts could enable the disclosed vehicle to be easily lowered to basement parking, either in car park buildings for public use, or in multi-use commercial and/or residential buildings, with the installation of new car lifts conveniently adding parking capacity to such buildings. Private or public extensions of street parking lots could facilitate recharging the disclosed vehicle at numerous electric charging ports, when the vehicle is an electric vehicle.

[0025] The disclosed vehicle’ s small footprint may significantly improve traffic flow on streets and highways, in addition to the benefit of increased parking lot availability. Reducing the number of vehicles on streets in search of parking will further reduce city traffic.

[0026] The relatively light weight of the vehicle will also increase safety, while providing a safer alternative to two-wheel vehicles, e.g., motorcycles. The reduced need for city parking could also increase alternative uses for city space, enabling planners to increase areas set aside for pedestrian use and for city gardens. Finally, the reduced dimensions and modularity reduce the vehicle costs, both for purchase and for maintenance.

[0027] Figs. 1A-1C are, respectively, schematic side, front, and back diagrams of a motor vehicle 100, according to embodiments of the present invention. As shown in the side view of Fig. 1A, the vehicle 100 has a front section 102 and a back section 104, the front section having a respective front section floor 106, and the back section having a respective back section floor 108. The front and back sections are connected by telescoping elements described further hereinbelow with respect to Figs. 3 and 4. The front section floor 106 includes a front wheelbase 112, to which are mounted a front pair of wheels 114. The rear section floor 108 includes a rear wheelbase 116, to which are mounted a rear pair of wheels 118. One or both of the front and rear bases may also include traction motors (typically electric motors) and drive trains for driving the respective front or rear wheels, as well as batteries for powering the traction motors. That is, the vehicle may be configured as either a front or rear drive vehicle, or as a four-wheel drive vehicle. In one embodiment, a single motor provides drive power for either the front or the rear wheels. Alternatively, each of either the front or rear wheels is driven by a dedicated motor. In a third alternative embodiment, separate motors drive the front and rear pairs of wheels, while in an additional alternative, each of all four wheels is driven by a dedicated motor.

[0028] Typically, the front section 102 also includes a circular window/door system 120, described further hereinbelow.

[0029] As shown in Fig. IB (the front view of the vehicle), the front section also includes a front windshield 122. As shown in Figs. 1A-1C (the rear view of the vehicle), the vehicle may also include a top-mounted storage trunk 130 located on the vehicle roof.

[0030] Figs. 2A and 2B are schematic diagrams showing transformation of the vehicle 100 from an extended (i.e., “expanded”) form to a compact (i.e., “folded”) form. The expanded form is typically used when space of the rear section 104 is needed to carry rearseat passengers and/or goods. In the expanded form, when the vehicle is used for passengers, the seating capacity of the rear section may be 2 or 3 passengers, providing a total vehicle capacity of 4 or 5 passengers. When the vehicle is used to carry only front-seat passengers or goods, without passengers or goods in the rear section, or when the vehicle is parked without goods, the vehicle is typically transformed into the compact form. (It is to be understood that additional front section rows of passenger seats, or a larger front cabin for storage, may also be provided by alternative embodiments. For example, the front section 102 may have two rows of seats, with a total capacity of 4-5 passengers, such that the rear row capacity of the rear section 104 brings the total vehicle capacity to 6-8 passengers.)

[0031] Typically, the outer dimensions of the rear section are slightly smaller than the inner dimensions of the front section, such that during compression the rear section slides into the front section. As indicated in Fig. 2B, when the vehicle is compressed, a front edge

204 of the rear section 104 moves into the front section 102, such that the two sections partially overlap. In the vehicle extended state, the overlap of the two sections is significantly smaller. As shown, the front wheels 114 and the rear wheels 118 are closer together in the compact form. Note also that the roof storage trunk 130 may also be compressed, as shown. [0032] Typically, when the vehicle has front-wheel drive, the vehicle compression is implemented by driving the front wheels back while the rear wheels are fixed (i.e., locked or braked). Alternatively, with rear-wheel drive, the rear wheels may be moved forward to compress the vehicle while the front wheels are fixed. Either of the above alternatives may also be implemented with four-wheel drive, as well as a further alternative of both motors operated together to compress the vehicle. In typical operation, a driver, while outside the vehicle, operates the vehicle compression and extension, for example by operating, a remotecontrol device (e.g., a dedicated remote-control device or a mobile smartphone with an appropriate app and wireless communications interface).

[0033] As described further below, compression of the vehicle removes the space of the back section, leaving the front section. In one exemplary implementation, compression reduces the total front-to-back length of the vehicle from 180 cm to 130 cm.

[0034] Fig. 3 shows a perspective, side view of telescoping elements of the motor vehicle. As described above, a front section compartment 302 (i.e., the front section 102 minus the front wheels 114) has dimensions that are typically slightly larger than the dimensions of a rear section compartment 304, thereby permitting the rear section compartment to slide into the front section compartment during compression of the vehicle. For example, in one embodiment, the width of the rear section compartment may be 118 cm and the height 138 cm, while the width of the front section compartment may be 120 cm and the height 140 cm. [0035] Telescoping arms 310 attached to the rear section 104 slide within telescoping recesses 312 of the front section 102, sliding inwards during compression, and sliding outwards during extension. Rear wheel slots 320 that are located in the front floor section 106 permit the rear wheels to slide into the front section. As indicated in the blow-up view, a telescoping floorboard 330 slides over rails 332 of the floors of both the front and rear sections as the vehicle is extended and compressed. A mechanism 334, such as a pushing tappet, with a return spring or similar means known in the art may be employed to move the floorboard over the floor of the rear section during compression and to return the floorboard during extension.

[0036] Figs. 4A and 4B show a top view of telescoping elements of the motor vehicle 100, i.e., the telescoping arms 310 and the telescoping arm recesses 312. Fig. 4A shows the front section floor 106 and the rear section floor 108 separated when the vehicle is in the expanded form. Note that the telescoping arms 310 are partially within the recesses 312 when the vehicle is fully extended. Fig. 4B shows the front section floor and rear section floor compressed together when the vehicle is in the compressed form. Note that the telescoping arms 310 have slid further into the recesses 312 when the vehicle is compressed (typically sliding all the way into the recesses for maximum compression). After the telescoping arms are extended or retracted, a locking mechanism (not shown) keeps the arms at the extended or retracted position in the recesses until the next compression or extension.

[0037] Fig. 5 is a schematic diagram showing seating of passengers in vehicle 100, when the vehicle is in the expanded form. In the expanded form, the passengers are seated both in the front section 102 and in the back vehicle section 104. As shown, the front section includes a front row of seats 510 (i.e., joined or separate seats), and there is a back row of seats 514 in the back section. Seated on the front row of seats are one or two passengers 520, which may include a driver, while the back seat includes one to three passengers 522. As described above, the back section is compressed into the front section when the vehicle is compressed, with the back seat row typically sliding under the front seat row. Not shown in the figure are the driving elements typically provided to the driver, such as dashboard, steering wheel, and accelerator pedal. It is to be understood that the vehicle may also be configured as an autonomous or semi-autonomous vehicle, with associated sensors, cameras and processing elements.

[0038] Figs. 6A-6D are schematic diagrams of the circular window/door system (CWDS) 120 of the motor vehicle. The CWDS 120 includes two quarter-circle windows 602, and a quasi-half-circle receptacle 604 in a circular frame 606. The windows rotate into the receptacle in order to permit passenger entry and exit from the vehicle. (The receptacle is typically slightly larger than the combined size of the two windows, in order that the windows may fit within the receptacle.) During driving, with the windows closed, and when the vehicle is parked, the windows 602 and receptacle 604 are typically positioned as indicated in Fig. 6A, with the windows positioned above the receptacle 604.

[0039] As shown in Fig. 6B, the windows 602 can be “opened” (i.e., disappear from view) by being rotated down into the receptacle. The windows can also be partially opened as indicated in Fig. 6C. The receptacle can also be rotated when the windows are in the receptacle, as shown in Fig. 6D. The combined rotation allows the opened windows to serve as “doors” that permit access to the front and back seats, both for passengers and for loading and unloading goods. Movement of the receptacle and movement of the windows with respect to the receptacle are typically controlled by one or more automated motors, which are typically controlled from the vehicle dashboard and/or from the remote control that operates the vehicle extension and compression. [0040] Typically, the motors for rotating windows into or out of the receptacle are located near the rotation axis inside the receptacle. The motor for rotating the door system has essentially two possible locations, being placed either at the inward axis of the circular door system, or alternatively, close to its peripheral edge (at its outside or inside, for instance in the receptacle) acting through a circular running rail. Note that it is understood that the CWDS may also be applied advantageously to a motor vehicle that is not compactable.

[0041] Figs. 7A and 7B are schematic diagrams of front and rear section access made possible by the circular window/door system (CWDS) 120.

[0042] Fig. 7A shows the CWDS configuration for front section access. To enter or exit the front section, or load and unload goods, the windows 602 are rotated into the receptacle 604 to create a quasi-half-circle opening in the CWDS. The receptacle is then rotated to the rear position of the CWDS, as shown, such that the CWDS opening is frontward. A passenger can then exit (or enter) through the front opening, as indicated by the front exit path 700. Alternatively, goods may be placed in the front section through the opening. (Note that the back seats are not shown in Fig. 7A.)

[0043] Fig. 7B shows the CWDS configuration for rear section access, with the vehicle in the extended form. When a rear passenger 522 (seated on rear seat 514) wants to enter or exit the vehicle, or when goods are to be placed in the rear section, the windows are rotated into the receptacle 604 to create a quasi-half-circle opening, and the receptacle is then rotated to the front position of the CWDS, as shown, such that the CWDS opening is towards the rear. In addition, the front seat occupies a forward position in order not to block the rear opening of the CWDS. A passenger can then exit (or enter) through the rear opening, as indicated by the arrows 702 indicating movement of the passenger 522 legs and body.

Alternatively, goods may be placed in the rear section. Note that movement of the front seat forward requires that the front seat not have a passenger when a rear passenger wants to enter or exit from the seat behind the given front seat, or when goods are place in the rear section. Note that the rear seat is generally close to the floor of the rear section during transport, to increase space both for rear passengers and goods. Consequently, to load passengers and goods more conveniently, at least one seat motor 704 may operate to move the back seat 514 during loading and unloading of passengers and goods (as indicated by arrows 706). Typically, when a passenger or goods are to be carried on the back seats, the seat motor first moves the back seat up and forward to permit the passenger or goods to be seated after entering through the door. Once the passenger or goods are seated, the seat motor then moves the back seat back and down, to reach the position set for driving. For unloading, the seat motor again moves the seat up and forward to permit the passenger to easily leave, or the good to be easily removed.

[0044] As indicated, the rear seats 514 are typically positioned lower than the front seats 510, such that when a rear passenger is seated his or her legs (and a portion of the thighs) are under the front seats. Although only one set of front and back seats are shown in the side view of the figure, it is to be understood that both sides of the vehicle may be equipped with CWDSs for entry and exit of passengers on either side.

[0045] It is to be further understood that the vehicle disclosed herein is intended for both urban and interurban use, configured to reach speeds of 80 km/h or more. Relatively high velocities, despite the small footprint and relatively high height, are possible due to the low center of gravity center, as well as computer-aided control of the wheels when turning.

[0046] The vehicle may be equipped with multiple cameras, at the back, the front, and on the sides to assist with navigation safety for the driver, and/or for semi-autonomous and/or autonomous operation. A screen displaying the view of the front camera may also be provided to the rear seat passengers to enable them to share the ride experience with the front seat passengers.

[0047] For the safety of passengers, airbags may be positioned at strategic spots. Airbags may also be configured to expand externally to further reduce impact in the event of collision, for example, by reducing roll-over impact to the vehicle itself or the damage that may be caused to external objects, two-wheel vehicle riders, or pedestrians.

[0048] As is described above, the operation of the drive motors as well as the CWDS motors may be controlled by a computer-based processor, which implements methods performed according to instructions stored in computer-readable storage media. Any reference to systems and computer-readable storage media with respect to the following computer-implemented methods is provided for explanatory purposes, and is not intended to limit any of such systems or methods with regard to embodiments of computer-implemented methods described above. For example, mobile devices may be any computing device permitting user input to interactive applications as described above. Method steps associated with the system and process can be rearranged and/or one or more such steps can be omitted to achieve the same, or similar, results to those described herein.

[0049] The descriptions of the various embodiments of the present invention have been presented for purposes of illustration, but are not intended to be exhaustive or limited to the embodiments disclosed. Many modifications and variations will be apparent to those of ordinary skill in the art without departing from the scope and spirit of the described embodiments. The terminology used herein was chosen to best explain the principles of the embodiments, the practical application or technical improvement over technologies found in the marketplace, or to enable others of ordinary skill in the art to understand the embodiments disclosed herein. As used herein, the singular form “a,” “an” and “the” include plural references unless the context clearly dictates otherwise.

[0050] The word “exemplary” as used herein means “serving as an example, instance or illustration,” and is not necessarily to be construed as preferred or advantageous over other embodiments or to exclude the incorporation of features from other embodiments.

[0051] It is appreciated that certain features that are, for clarity, described in the context of separate embodiments may also be provided in combination in a single embodiment. Conversely, various features of the invention, which are, for brevity, described in the context of a single embodiment, may also be provided separately or in any suitable sub-combination or as suitable in any other described embodiment of the invention. Certain features described in the context of various embodiments are not to be considered essential features of those embodiments, unless the embodiment is inoperative without those elements.

[0052] The following table includes definitions of the numeric indicators used in the figures: