3 ms·

I can't see spherical wheels working well. They would have a smaller contact patch on the road surface than a standard wheel, and consequently less traction.

jacquesm 9y ago
And then there is stronger braking to be considered, which almost always is some kind of disk brake which you can't do if there is no shaft to mount one on. Which means the spherical wheel system would have to be oversized to compensate for lack of such a shaft even if it would work to drive the car. Magnetic wheels have other interesting problems that would need to be solved such as when two cars get close to each other the wheels would start to attract or repulse depending on their orientation. This is mostly likely not something that could be rolled out even in a concept car with present day technology unless there is some kind of trick that I'm not aware of. Halbach arrays are not without problems if you allow them to be unconstrained in all dimensions.
- Shorel 9y ago
  If they are too big then the car will only have room for two: one in the front and one in the back. TaDa: the self driving Tron motorcycle!
- sillysaurus3 9y ago
  Could you just use standard wheels, but let all four of them turn 90 degrees? Then the car could move laterally.
  - Retric 9y ago
    There are some cars that already do this. It's a lot simpler with independent electric motors per wheel, but generally not that useful as self drivings cars can already parallel park just fine.
  - jacquesm 9y ago
    You only need one wheel to turn very tightly: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=YlLZE23EJKs https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=YlLZE23EJKs
- rothbardrand 9y ago
  People who never think creatively never invent anything. You are shitting on the fact that they even explored the idea as if ipso facto you know it was a bad idea. You don't. That you think you do is why you won't be inventing an iPhone.
  - jacquesm 9y ago
    That's true. But then again, I did come up with live streaming video on the web and some other lesser known bits and pieces of technology. And I'd argue my lego sorting machine also required plenty of creative thinking.
ptero 9y ago
There are definitely major challenges, although maybe those could work in areas where the motion is slow but constrained (e.g., a cart to move cars in/out/around a dedicated parking lot). Maybe flatten the surface used for normal motion and use sides for infrequent, slow maneuvers. I do not know. But those ideas are tangential (being generous) to self-driving, so better not steal cycles from it.
skgoa 9y ago
Plus the whole sphere and its housing is going to take up a lot of volume.

jacquesm 9y ago

And then there is stronger braking to be considered, which almost always is some kind of disk brake which you can't do if there is no shaft to mount one on. Which means the spherical wheel system would have to be oversized to compensate for lack of such a shaft even if it would work to drive the car. Magnetic wheels have other interesting problems that would need to be solved such as when two cars get close to each other the wheels would start to attract or repulse depending on their orientation. This is mostly likely not something that could be rolled out even in a concept car with present day technology unless there is some kind of trick that I'm not aware of. Halbach arrays are not without problems if you allow them to be unconstrained in all dimensions.

Shorel 9y ago
If they are too big then the car will only have room for two: one in the front and one in the back. TaDa: the self driving Tron motorcycle!
sillysaurus3 9y ago
Could you just use standard wheels, but let all four of them turn 90 degrees? Then the car could move laterally.
- Retric 9y ago
  There are some cars that already do this. It's a lot simpler with independent electric motors per wheel, but generally not that useful as self drivings cars can already parallel park just fine.
- jacquesm 9y ago
  You only need one wheel to turn very tightly: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=YlLZE23EJKs https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=YlLZE23EJKs
rothbardrand 9y ago
People who never think creatively never invent anything. You are shitting on the fact that they even explored the idea as if ipso facto you know it was a bad idea. You don't. That you think you do is why you won't be inventing an iPhone.
- jacquesm 9y ago
  That's true. But then again, I did come up with live streaming video on the web and some other lesser known bits and pieces of technology. And I'd argue my lego sorting machine also required plenty of creative thinking.

ptero 9y ago

There are definitely major challenges, although maybe those could work in areas where the motion is slow but constrained (e.g., a cart to move cars in/out/around a dedicated parking lot). Maybe flatten the surface used for normal motion and use sides for infrequent, slow maneuvers. I do not know. But those ideas are tangential (being generous) to self-driving, so better not steal cycles from it.

skgoa 9y ago

Plus the whole sphere and its housing is going to take up a lot of volume.