NASA's Modular Robotic Vehicle Prototype

NEW MRV

Modular Robotic Vehicle is a battery powered electric vehicle developed at Johnson Space Center. NASA's new MRV Prototype is an advanced electric rover driven by even remote control. The MRV has four liquid-cooled wheel motors and separate wheel modules that can turn independently of each other. MRV has top speed of about 43 mph and a range of 62 miles of city driving on a single battery charge.

"Each e-corner can be controlled independently and rotated 180 degress about its axis. This allows for a suite of driving modes allowing MRV to maneuver unlike any traditional vehicle on the road. In addition to conventional front two wheel steering, the back wheels can also articulate allowing for turning radius as tight as zero. The driving mode can be switched so that all four wheels point and move in the same direction achieving an omni-directional, crab-like motion."
-(NASA)

"It's like driving on ice but having complete control. It's blast to ride and even more fun to drive."
-(Johnson Space Flight Center's) Justin Ridley

It also has a drive-by-wire system, which replaces mechanical links to the propulsion, steering and brake actuators with control inputs, which convert to electric signals and transmit via wires to the vehicle's motors.

"Just as NASA helped pioneer fly-by-wire technology in aircraft in the 1970s, MRV is an attempt to bring that technology  to the ground in modern automobiles."
-(NASA)