The designs seems to cover all the motion of the wheel in the suspension - but I don't see how this could accommodate steering.
Is this for back wheel drive only?
Curiously the animations shown in the video, show the uni wheel used in the front of a front wheel drive car - but without ever showing how the wheels steer.
How is that supposed to work?
I'm actually surprised they would even need the gearbox. Why not just put four Outrunner[1] motors, one on each wheel, and let the wiring be the only thing that has to flex when the wheel is steered.
1. https://fr.wikipedia.org/wiki/Moteur-roue_d'Hydro-Qu%C3%A9be... (in French only, sorry!)
They're common in electric scooters, bikes and bicycles though.
the sound is not coming from EMF, but rather from speakers due to safety regulations for pedestrians
That somehow seems a weird choice for a device that's all about improving space efficiency.
Just look closer at the animations in the video if you want to see how the space is being used
It actually doesn't. A wheel's camber changes as it moves up and down, which is why race cars typically have negative camber when going straight, so the tire's entire contact patch is used when going around a turn, which compresses the suspension of the outside wheel.
This design doesn't appear to handle this case at all. I'm not sure how a traditional suspension setup could be modified only move a wheel up and down, without any change in the camber, considering the fixed attach points of the various control arms.
You'd have an added complication of making the shock absorber the pivot point, and attaching the motor to the top point. Or having a separate pivot point where the motor or wheel can slide up and down.
This does raise the question of why not just attach the motor straight to the wheel.
The standard response to that is a hand wavey "unsprung mass". But has it actually been tried and shown to be an issue?
So, that's probably not it.
I think this only works with RWD, because the turning wheels can't be sprung without also having to rotate the springs.
It would be a better suspension (closer to racing suspensions) than standard, because wheels wouldnt toe in/out when they moved down/up. Looks expensive as hell though
"This does raise the question of why not just attach the motor straight to the wheel. The standard response is ...unsprung mass"
Afaik with high performance motors, if you want optimal performance and space efficiency you take the unsprung mass for granted and move everything in wheel and try to reduce the mass as much as possible. As a bonus you do not need joints, just a planetary gear system.
A motor per wheel simplifies everything.
No diff, no CV joints, you don't need this, just a simple planetary gearbox.
You gain space, lower manufacturing costs (theoretically, assuming multiple motors doesn't offset the other cost reductions, although as you could base a 2wd and 4wd high performance version on the same motor, that's an even harder case to make).
Benefits according to the article: "reduced packaging size, improved ride quality, greater durability and, importantly, increased efficiency."