According to news.com.au's carsguide (who seem to have been invited to a press conference on the PMV),
'There is no seatbelt, to which the Japanese engineer reasoned: "These cars never cause an accident." 'The engineer can say that because the PMV uses some computer trickery to enable it to go into "auto-pilot" and travel in convoy. Perhaps the PMV can't cause an accident when it's running on auto-pilot but what about other cars running in to it?
Can I be uncharitable and say that the PMV is a re-hash of a bunch of technology that has been around for ages? It's joystick controls have been experimented with by many car makers for years - Mercedes had a 500SL roadster with them, SAAB had a 9000 and I'm pretty sure one of Mitsubishi's many prototypes may have had joystick based control. The idea that computer control can allow cars to travel in convoy is also not a new idea. One or more of the Big Three American car makers have had experimental systems going around for years and, as a some-time abuser of sociological methods in my research I must mention Aramis, a failed attempt at a high-tech train/car system that reached advanced prototype stage in France in the late 70s and very early 80s.
While I'm criticising a multi-million dollar venture from the safety of my keyboard, let me also say that it seems that the PMV has no luggage space, making it pretty much useless except for a commuting office worker (which may well have been the design brief).
All of this criticism is not to say that it's a bad idea, just that previous failures and false-starts using similar technology should probably be examined before going down such an expensive route.
Perhaps Toyota need a socio-technical designer on staff? Now, there's an idea!
