How often have you had to make a three-point turn, or more? If you’re a city dweller, you’d be hoping for this to come to fruition. A Canadian inventor, William Liddiard has come up with omni-directional wheels to overcome the problem of manoeuvring in tight spaces.

The idea isn’t a new one; concepts such as the Honda U3-X also operate on a similar premise of omni-directional mobility. However, according to the inventor of these wheels, they are made to be installed on existing vehicle designs.

“Unlike other omni capable wheels, my wheels do not require the vehicle to be built around them. This is a world first bolt-on application for anything with wheels,” Liddiard said.

“Designed to be used in all weather and road conditions, they are stronger, faster and more accurately controlled than prior art. They can take a beating. The tires can have the same build characteristics as regular tires and you can drive in all directions, and turn on the spot when needed,” he continued.

It isn’t a production-ready innovation, sadly, but Liddiard said he was looking to sell the wheel design to a company like Goodyear or Honda, and currently it is very much a work in progress.

Initially the wheel design was said to produce 32,540 Nm of torque, which Liddiard later admitted was actually a mistake, and that the actual figure was much lower. Additionally, the wheels need to be revised to attain a more realistic speed.

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