A Chinese engineer has designed a two-wheeled car of the future based on a 1961 Ford model.

Self balancing two-wheel cars, known as gyrocars, have been around for over 100 years, but have failed to catch on.

Zhu Lingyun hopes to change that with his gyrocar design, inspired by the 1961 Ford Gyron.

The two-wheeled vehicle doesn’t have a steering wheel or acceleration pedal, and is instead controlled by a computer mouse and 24-inch screen.

The car can also drive autonomously, and could go on sale by 2020, its inventor claims.

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WHAT IS A GYROCAR?

A gyrocar is a two-wheeled automobile that is different than a bicycle or motorcycle.

In a bike, balance is provided by the rider.

In a gyrocar, it is stabilized by one or more ‘gyroscopes’ – a spinning wheel or disc.

Some older models were balanced by two small legs to support it when it wasn’t moving.

Beijing Lingyun Intelligent Technology Co plans to build the car for public use, and the vehicle is already undergoing testing inChina.

‘I was told by a potential investor that I have zero chance to make the idea work,’ Zhu, 40, said to Bloomberg after a test drive of a prototype called the 1703.

‘But I firmly believe this is the future of urban transportation because it is exquisite, energy-saving and easy to manage. I have to make it.’

Zhu and his startup Lingyun hope to have the car on the market by 2020.

He first spotted Ford’s Gyron on the internet five years ago, and immediately wanted to build his own.

The car was on the May 1961 cover of Car Life magazine and then displayed at the Detroit Motor Show.

In 2014, Zhu started Lingyun with $470,000 in investments and three employees.

The company is now worth $60million.

The Gyron had two seats and a tail fin and never went into production.

FORD’S FUTURISTIC GYRON

Ford’s Gyron was a futuristic two-wheeled gyrocar unveiled in 1961 at the Detroit Motor Show as a concept car.

One wheel was at the front and the other at the rear like a motorcycle and the car was stabilized by gyroscopes.

The two occupants of the vehicle were seated side by side and, when the vehicle was stationary, two small legs appeared from the sides to support it.

The original fiberglass concept was destroyed in the 1962 Ford Rotunda fire.

Only the studio model remains today, it was sold at an auction in December 2012 for $40,000.

The car was on the May 1961 cover of Car Life magazine and then displayed at the Detroit Motor Show.

Zhu’s car is a single-seater that is about 10 feet long and can reach speeds of up to 62 mph.

‘On most occasions, a car is used by a single person, so a car for one person has market prospects,’ said Li Jianwei, who led Sequoia Capital’s investment into Lingyun in 2014.

‘As long as they can prove that their vehicles are reliable and safe, the government will gradually accept it. We took this as a long-term investment.’

The 1703 prototype can drive autonomously or can be controlled by the smartscreen.

A promotional video shows a woman applying lipstick and checking her iPhone as she drives around a parking lot.

HOW DO SELF-DRIVING CARS ‘SEE’?

Self-driving cars often use a combination of normal two-dimensional cameras and depth-sensing ‘LiDAR’ units to recognise the world around them.

In LiDAR (light detection and ranging) scanning – which is used by Waymo – one or more lasers send out short pulses, which bounce back when they hit an obstacle.

These sensors constantly scan the surrounding areas looking for information, acting as the ‘eyes’ of the car.

While the units supply depth information, their low resolution makes it hard to detect small, faraway objects without help from a normal camera linked to it in real time.

In November last year Apple revealed details of its driverless car system that uses lasers to detect pedestrians and cyclists from a distance.

The Apple researchers said they were able to get ‘highly encouraging results’ in spotting pedestrians and cyclists with just LiDAR data.

They also wrote they were able to beat other approaches for detecting three-dimensional objects that use only LiDAR.

Other self-driving cars generally rely on a combination of cameras, sensors and lasers.

An example is Volvo’s self driving cars that rely on around 28 cameras, sensors and lasers.

A network of computers process information, which together with GPS, generates a real-time map of moving and stationary objects in the environment.

Twelve ultrasonic sensors around the car are used to identify objects close to the vehicle and support autonomous drive at low speeds.

A wave radar and camera placed on the windscreen reads traffic signs and the road’s curvature and can detect objects on the road such as other road users.

Four radars behind the front and rear bumpers also locate objects.

Two long-range radars on the bumper are used to detect fast-moving vehicles approaching from far behind, which is useful on motorways.

Four cameras – two on the wing mirrors, one on the grille and one on the rear bumper – monitor objects in close proximity to the vehicle and lane markings.