cushion car

Tired of mowing down pedestrians and scratching up your car while cruising around town? You, my friend, need a supersoft cushion car!

Developed by Hiroshima University, this electric car is completely surrounded by ultra-strong air-filled cushions that protect both those inside and outside the car, meaning that as well as being environmentally friendly it transforms life-destroying collisions into mere belly bounces from the Stay Puft Marshmallow man.

Capable of travelling up to 30 kilometres on one overnight charge and reaching speeds of 50 km/h (31 mph), this electric three-wheeler, known as the iSAVE-SC1 was designed and built by the Humanix group at Hiroshima University, achieving their goal of building a vehicle that is “kind to humans” in more ways than one. The car costs just 790,000 yen or 9,300 US dollars.

Both the plastic roof and cushioned bumpers are designed to be interchangeable and will be made available in a variety of colours. Though we doubt very much that anyone will be talking about the colour scheme when they spot you pulling up outside Starbucks in one of these little babies…

Here’s the car in action:

▼’sup, ladies! Mr Softy’s here!

inflatable car

▼The car’s main feature is its enormous padded front end

inflatable car front

▼Here the creators intentionally pin a couple of team members against another vehicle. Although the driver here seems to be enjoying himself a little too much…

inflatable car crush test a little too happy

▼An earlier concept image of the human-friendly vehicle

inflatable car design

It’s quirky, it’s kind of goofy-looking, but in a weird way we actually want one. As well as being cheap to run and taking a lot of the danger out of driving for both driver and other road users, it’s ideal for those busy Tokyo streets where traffic trundles along slowly and people rarely travel far from home.

Design one for us with some character designs splashed across the side and you’ve got a deal, guys!

Source: Kotaro Blog / Humanix

Video / images: Asahicom