Daniel Kim is nothing if not ambitious. His goal is to revolutionize personal transportation by combining the best elements of a car and a motorcycle. The result of his work is the prototype C1--an enclosed motorcycle that uses gyroscopic stabilizers to remain upright:
Cars, by Kim’s reckoning, are most often a waste of space and, for the most part, they’re terribly inefficient. Motorcyles are far more efficient but they’re dangerous.
The C1 is gyroscopically stabilized – sort of along the lines of a Segway – so it can’t tip over. It delivers 1,300-foot-pounds of torque and has about 200 miles of range or, as Lit employee Ryan James put it, “three times the range with one-third the battery requirement” of electric cars. A regenerative braking system helps goose the range and airbags protect the occupants.
Link -via Althouse | Photo: Lit Motors (where there's a video)
In taking away one perceived problem the designer has taken away the two biggest advantages of a bike. The designed has however failed to address several one of the biggest disadvantages of a bike. That thing will be no more visible to other road users than any other bike. This means the rider will be involved in as many accidents as a normal bike, in fact probably more so since the restricted maneuverability will prevent some evasive action. The primary risk to motorcyclists has always been that other road users choose not to see them, or perhaps more accurately choose not to look properly.
The rider may well be shrouded in bodywork but I suspect that this will give little more than the illusion of protection. There simply isn't room for crumple zones front and rear. And as for side impacts, if the doors were as heavy as car doors have to be to offer protection then the thing would hardly move. Sometimes in an accident a rider can protect themselves from the worst injuries by parting company with their steed. Ever pushed the bike away when it was heading for a wall? No chance of that with this thing, if the bike is going to hit something solid then so are you.
In short I believe that this is one of the technically clever inventions that nobody actually wants or needs. It's been said many times before, but what inventors need more than ideas is the skill to recognize whether there is a market for their invention. And at that sort of wedge I suspect there is none.
I hope Lit succeeds, but I think their claims are inflated higher than their tires. They say the C-1 will always remain upright even when T-boned by a car. I doubt that, and remaining upright at that point is the least of your worries. Sudden deceleration is what injures bodies. Their fiberglass housing will provide little protection and airbags help only if they are anchored to something substantial. The Lit site shows no evidence of a full-scale working gyro stabilization system. But motorcycles have been around for many years and staying upright is not a problem, any more than it is for a bicycle. The problem which needs to be solved is collision avoidance. For that to succeed I think all vehicles will have to be designed to interact with each other and determine the best course of action for all vehicles nearby. Imagine a busy intersection with no traffic lights, just smart vehicles sharing the road.