Sometimes the best ideas for novel technology come straight out of the movies.
While cars that turn into submarines, or flying DeLoreans that double as time machines seem like a lifetime away, one piece of movie tech might see its use in real life.
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In one of the penultimate scenes in the 1987 film "The Living Daylights," James Bond — played by Timothy Dalton, took authorities in Czechoslovakia on a ride as they chased 007 and his companion through the snow.
Stuck on a frozen lake with three fully-inflated tires, Bond presses a button on the console marked “outrigger” to deploy a set of built-in skis that lifted up the black Aston Martin V8. Seeing another patrol car approaching, he then toggles a lever to deploy spikes that come out of the tires, enabling his escape.
Though most mortals will almost never be put into a situation like Bond’s, motorists can attest to the dangers of driving in the snow. Slipping, sliding and overall loss of traction can get cars stuck or into accidents and are a primary danger for car-based commuters during the winter months.
Remedies like winter tires and snow chains do exist, but they can be either expensive, or a pain to install by yourself within the span of an afternoon, but the boffins at the research labs of Hyundai (HYMLF) -) and Kia (KIMTF) -) have come up with a better, more convenient and downright cooler solution.
Dubbed by the South Korean automakers as “snow chain-integrated tire technology," this cool gadget uses a wheel and tire assembly that features large grooves around the surface of the tire similar to that of slices of pizza.
Within the slits that shape these "slices" are individual "chain links," which pop out of the grooves when needed and retract back when deactivated.
At the press of a button, an electrical current activates a shape memory metal, which expands and exposes the metal "chain links" to the road surface, popping out in a similar fashion to Bond's tires.
Hyundai and Kia visually demonstrate this new tech in a video:
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Hyundai and Kia have patented the design in South Korea and in the States, and are considering putting this into production pending further development and durability testing before it makes it onto vehicles like Ioniqs, Sonatas and EV6's.
This design has not yet been approved by any regulatory agency.
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