A two-wheeled vehicle is provided. The two-wheeled vehicle includes a chassis, and a first wheel carriage moveably coupled to, and longitudinally displaceable relative to the chassis. At least a first wheel is rotationally mounted on the first wheel carriage, and coupled to the chassis through the first wheel carriage. The two-wheeled vehicle further includes a first linear actuator system coupled to the first wheel carriage, and configured to longitudinally displace the first wheel carriage relative to the chassis. A first motor is mounted to the first wheel and the first wheel carriage. The first motor is configured to provide a drive energy to the first wheel, and to be displaced along with the first wheel carriage as the first wheel is displaced by the first linear actuator system.

Land vehicles and methods of operating land vehicles are disclosed. A land vehicle includes a frame structure, a plurality of wheels, and a plurality of electric motors. The frame structure includes a front cage that at least partially defines an operator cabin and a rear compartment positioned rearward of the front cage in a longitudinal direction. The plurality of wheels are supported by the frame structure. The plurality of wheels includes a pair of front wheels and a pair of rear wheels positioned rearward of the pair of front wheels in the longitudinal direction.

A rugged and compact articulated wheel with at least two hubs, and wheeled vehicles that include one or more of such articulated wheels.

An axle assembly for a low floor vehicle is described herein. The axle assembly includes an axle housing and a drive unit for driving a wheel assembly. The axle housing including a first gearbox, a second gearbox and a cradle assembly coupling the first gear box to the second gear box. The axle assembly includes first and second hub assemblies that form a first axis of rotation. The first gearbox includes an electric motor that is coupled to a transmission used to rotate an output shaft. The first gearbox also includes a differential mounted for rotation with the transmission and a first drop box mounted for rotation with the differential. The axle assembly also includes a portal axle mounted for rotation with the first drop box and extends from the first gearbox to the second gearbox wherein the portal axle forms a second axis of rotation that is offset from the first axis of rotation of the hub assemblies. The second gearbox includes a second drop box mounted for rotation with the portal axle and is adapted to drive the second hub assembly.

Disclosed are in-wheel driving devices. The devices include a wheel bearing including a hub and an outer ring disposed outward of the hub in a radial direction, a speed reducer including a carrier coupled to a wheel, an annular sealing member disposed between the hub and the carrier and brought into close contact with the carrier to seal lubricant oil supplied into the speed reducer, and wheel bolts that couple the wheel and the carrier and pass through wheel bolt holes formed in the carrier spaced apart from each other in a circumferential direction. The sealing member is concentric with a first virtual circle passing through centers of the wheel bolt holes. The first virtual circle has a larger diameter than the sealing member such that the wheel bolts are located outward of the sealing member in the radial direction.

A vehicle drive unit (11) includes a spindle (12) on which a female spline portion (12G) is formed, a wheel (15) disposed on an outer peripheral side of the spindle (12), wheel bearings 17, 18 that rotatably support the wheel (15) in relation to the spindle (12), an electric motor (21) located on an axial one side of the spindle (12), a shaft (22) connected to an output shaft (21B) of the electric motor (21), a planetary gear reduction device (25) disposed between the shaft (22) and the wheel (15), and a shaft bearing (46) that rotatably supports the shaft (22) in relation to the spindle (12). A retainer (42) retaining the shaft bearing (46) is disposed on an inner peripheral surface side of the spindle (12), and a male spline portion (42E), which is spline-coupled to a female spline portion (12G) of the spindle (12), is disposed on the retainer (42).

An electric vehicle includes a lateral self-stabilization system and may further include a fore-aft self-stabilization system. The lateral self-stabilization system may include a controller configured to cause an actuator to laterally tilt a frame of the vehicle based on sensed information relating to an orientation of the vehicle, or portion thereof, about a roll axis. The frame of the vehicle may include any suitable structure configured to be laterally tilted by the actuator relative to an axle of the vehicle. The fore-aft stabilization system may include a motor controller configured to drive a motor of the vehicle based on sensed information relating to a pitch angle of the vehicle. In some examples, the vehicle is a robotic vehicle.

A two wheeled robot with a pair of motorized wheels mounted on each end of a body and a rearwardly extending tail. The body comprising a chassis with sides and exterior side surfaces and providing an accessory mounting interface. The interface having a matrixical arrangement of threaded holes and one or more landings, the landings having an outwardly facing planar landing surface with hole openings at the landing surface. An accessory with a robot mounting interface cooperates with the chassis at the accessory mounting interface such that prior to fastening the accessory has a single degree of freedom of movement. Screws extend through portions of the accessory into select ones of the threaded holes of the matrixical arrangement.

Systems, methods, and other implementations described herein relate to a hub motor for a wheel of a vehicle. In one embodiment, the hub motor includes a cylindrical rotor and a cylindrical stator coaxially spaced from the cylindrical rotor along an axle. The cylindrical rotor includes a rotor attachment to selectively couple the cylindrical rotor to the axle. The cylindrical stator is disposed between the cylindrical rotor and the wheel and includes stator attachments to selectively couple the cylindrical stator to an outer wheel surface of the wheel. The cylindrical rotor and the cylindrical stator are selectively attachable to the axle and the outer wheel surface, respectively, without removing the wheel from the vehicle.

A vehicle operating device including an operating member operable by a driver and configured to: issue, to a drive system, a command to apply a drive force in a forward direction when a first-direction operation of the operating member from its neutral position in a first direction is performed in a state in which the vehicle is at a stop or running forward; issue, to the drive system, a command to apply a drive force in a backward direction when a second-direction operation of the operating member from the neutral position in a second direction different from the first direction is performed in a state in which the vehicle is at a stop or running backward; and issue, to a brake system, a command to apply a braking force as an opposite-direction-operation-dependent braking force when the second-direction operation is performed in a state in which the vehicle is running forward.