Toyota debuted two-seat i-Road

Japanese three-wheeler Toyota i-Road received an update consisting of adding a second seat.

12/25/15 4:00 am chumakdenis 1

Toyota Motor Corporation presented the very first model of i-Road at 83rd Geneva International Motor Show.

The car didn’t seem like the kind of a car that could ever attract a lot of buyers and make a big hit in the future—most of the asked visitors were saying that they would never buy such a car due to its sizes, quirky design, balancing issues and other stuff alike— ,but it did.

The truth is that people in big cities with enormous traffic are sick and tired of spending crazy hours in traffic jams. They don’t mind using any kind of transport and i-Road for them is more like a blessing than a disaster on wheels.

Tokyo, Beijing, Honk-Kong, San Francisco - here are only some of the places where i-Road vehicles are popular.

It’s a really good car…but it could be even better – though engineers from Toyota Motor Corporation and added a second seat.

What did we receive?

Well, let’s have a closer look.

Update consists of adding a miniature second seat.

Cool, isn’t it?

Now you can commute with your son or daughter or put your pet on the back seat or you can use back seat as an additional trunk — why not? It’s still much safer in comparison to what I saw in China and Japan?

However, everything is not as simple as that – at least in Japan and the United States.

In here vehicle has to pass rigorous safety tests before making any changes to the car legal.

Thus, expect to see two-seat i-Road available to buy not sooner than early 2016.

Legal in Japan

While currently in use as part of a Toyota test project in Grenoble, France, the two-seater model has now received type certification from the Ministry of Land, Infrastructure, Transport and Tourism, making it eligible for use in Japan.

How will the vehicle be tested?

The vehicles will be loaned for periods of approximately one month to users who plan to use them for two-passenger applications. By testing the vehicles in a variety of day-to-day situations such as commuting, shopping, and dropping off and picking up children, Toyota will assess the value of the i-Road in different capacities, including its potential to meet mobility needs that are not currently met.

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Toyota began Japan-based trials of a two-seater version of the i-Road as a part of the Open Road Project launched in July, and started on November 21 in Tokyo’s Shibuya Ward.

What changes to the car have already been made?

In order to meet the Japanese government’s type certification requirements, some aspects of the one-occupant vehicle were modified to make two-occupant use viable. These modifications included changes to reflectors and vehicle-width indicators and the addition of an Approaching Vehicle Audible System.