Hyundai confirms mass production plans for its all-terrain walker Elevate

When Hyundai unwrapped its all-terrain walker vehicle concept called Elevate at the CES show in Las Vegas last year, many people dismissed it as a plaything of a designer who was too much into the Star Wars franchise as a child. Few believed the company’s words that it would be going into mass production – until now.

As it turns out, the Korean carmaker founded a new subsidiary called New Horizons Studio, which will specialize in building UMV-type cars. “UMV” stands for “Ultimate Mobility Vehicle”, by the way.

The new subdivision will be headed by Dr. John Suh, an expert in robotics with nine years of experience working for Hyundai. His team will include such Silicon Valley scientists as Dr. Ernestine Fu, ex-leader of VW research lab. Their goal will be designing the first mass-produced transformer vehicle capable of traversing all possible kinds of challenging terrains.

The Hyundai Elevate Concept has been created in collaboration with Sundberg-Ferar. Building a working real-world prototype with a 66-kWh battery on board took three years. The walker houses motorized wheels in its four artificial limbs, and folding the limbs turns it into a passable road car. When unfolded to full height, the limbs can be set apart for 4.57 meters (15 feet) of maximum track width, increasing stability and enabling the car to climb over obstacles. The design study had an AI controlling the car, but the production version will not incorporate any kind of self-driving system.

No release timeframe has been provided so far.