New Technology Saves Lives

Ambulances have been in use since 1427 in Spain where they were as simple as horse drawn carriages. The biggest change in the field of ambulances took place with the invention of motorized vehicles and the field has remained stagnant since then. Until this year Hyundai released a theoretical design for a “walking car.” This ambulance possesses four legs and can be used to run, walk or crawl some of the most difficult terrain. It was designed with the specific intentions of reaching people stranded or injured by natural disasters such as floods, earthquakes, and mudslides; all natural disasters were the road usage is usually limited. 

The car can span gaps as long as five feet across. While on roads, the joints are locked up so the car drives as usual; the joints also remain unpowered to preserve energy. When the destination is reached, the legs are powered and the driver can choose from a reptilian or mammalian gait. This would allow the ambulance itself to directly reach the injured patient. The further the distance required for the patient to travel from the place of injury to the ambulance, the higher the chance of further injury. On top of the risk of unnecessary injury the amount of time it would take for EMTs to travel from the road to spot of injury would be greatly reduced and therefore increase the chance of survival in some cases. 

I think it will be a long time until we begin to see even limited use of vehicles of this type but I do believe it will happen within my lifetime. This car has the potential to save innumerable lives. I think with exponential rate of growth in the tech field, we will even begin to see cars like this produced for consumer recreations like “off-roading” and “rock-crawling."