Since early last year, staff at the University of Otago design studies department and the Otago Polytechnic design department, led by co-ordinators Prof Thomas Bley, head of the university department, and Chris Ebbert, a senior lecturer in product design at the polytechnic, have been working together to develop an intelligent, more sustainable alternative to the motor car.
The design team has generated dozens of potential designs, aiming to produce a three-wheel vehicle which is as pleasant to operate as a motorcycle but as stable as a car, and no more than 72.5cm wide.
The project has been named oMoCo, the working title for ‘‘Otago Motor Company'', and has been gathering momentum, with an initial prototype vehicle due to be tested about July this year, organisers say.
Other design team members include Andrew Wallace, Bill Ingram and Herbert Pause, the latter a visiting lecturer in design from Zurich, Switzerland.
Organisers are also keen to attract commercial partners, with a view of establishing a potentially lucrative manufacturing centre for the vehicle in Dunedin, Prof Bley says.
The team initially aims to create a more sustainable alternative to the ‘‘motorised rickshaw'' type of taxi seen in many overcongested Asian cities, including Bangkok, Thailand, and Delhi, India, as well as in South American countries such as Argentina.
Such a smart vehicle would also be well suited to operating efficiently as a rapid-response ambulance, and as a delivery vehicle, including for courier mail items, organisers said.
Mr Ebbert said solar power, accessed through solar panels, could be used to top up the battery power supply during the revolutionary vehicle's driving day.
The new vehicle would be faster, and more space-efficient and would avoid the air and noise pollution associated with burning fossil fuels, organisers said.
Mr Wallace said that in some of the worst affected cities, traffic congestion meant car speeds ranged only from 6kmh to 8kmh.
‘‘You're just sitting in your car and not getting anywhere,'' Prof Bley said.
Organisers said that trials in Dunedin streets showed that conservatively-ridden motorcycles were reaching their destination 30% faster than the car over a 4.5km route.
It was hoped to build one of the innovative vehicles by next year, and to undertake a world tour to reach a planned Copenhagen Climate Conference, which was to be held at the end of next year, organisers said.