360° Driving: Ioniq 5 Prototype Innovative Crab Walk and Turn

Hyundai Mobis company reveal a new vehicle steering technology in Las Vegas at CES 2023. Each wheel features an integrated module that includes an in-wheel motor, damper, brake by wire, and steer by wire.

For the time, the Hyundai Motor Group showed how the car was supposed to work in animation, but now it has built a working prototype which we can see it at work.

The modified Hyundai Ioniq 5 prototype, equipped with the new modules, has made an appearance on public roads to give a demonstration and display some of its outstanding uses. This includes parallel parking in a tight area just by re-adjusting the wheel angle and pulling back from a dead-end by making a 180-degree turn.

In Seosan, South Korean roads, Hyundai Mobis showed a variety of driving modes, proving that the new technology works in real-world scenarios.

In a video, you can see the e-Corner system prototype car performing a “Crab Walk” which allows all four tires to turn 90 degrees to perform parallel movement, enabling anyone to park in small spaces.

You will also see the Hyundai Ioniq 5 prototype doing the “zero turn” in which the front wheels rotate inside and rear wheels turn outside to perform a 360-degree idle turn. This new feature of the tyre allows the driver to easily turn the direction of the vehicle in a small space with minimum movement.

Another feature demonstrated in a demo video is “diagonal driving”, which lets all four wheels rotate in the same direction at 45 degrees, helping to prevent obstacles or vehicles on the road smoothly.

Lastly, you can see a new feature, “pivot turn” that lets the car driver choose any point for the central axis to rotate the vehicle. It looks like drawing a circle using a compass.

According to Hyundai Mobis, the technology's reliability will increase when it is successfully tested on actual roads. According to the company, the e-Corner System is "the key mobility technology for electrification and autonomous driving."

This new innovative technology has never been used or produced anywhere in the world, but you might see Hyundai on Hyundai Motor Group vehicles in the future.

The head of the Future Technology Convergence Institute (FTCI) at Hyundai Mobis company says:

We are idealizing the e-Corner System to meet the demands for future mobility. We will secure different types of customized mobility solutions that can be applied in autonomous driving and PBVs to solidify our vision of reaching new heights as a mobility platform provider.

The company is creating a vast number of vital parts in-house, with the intention to combine them. These parts include those connectivity, electricity, steering, and brakes.