These Off-Road Tyres Turn Into Tracks And Back In Seconds, And You Can Drive Them On Anywhere

To build an off-roading vehicle, it involves one major compromise. If you decided to put tank tracks on a car instead, it would be able to go pretty much anywhere except open water. The only problem is it’s nowhere fast enough for open roads. But DARPA has a way to fix that.

 

The US defense research group is working with Carnegie Mellon University to build a true all-terrain vehicle. They call their invention the Reconfigurable Wheel-Track technology, which basically crosses the speed of wheels with the off-road stability of tracks. 

As you can see in the clip blow, the groups managed to build a set of wheels that can mid-drive convert into tracks, and back. The best part is that it’s an incredibly short process, only taking about two seconds. Particularly for Army vehicles as demonstrated, that could mean the difference between life and death for the soldiers inside, though it would certainly be appreciated on commercial vehicles too.