Introducing the novel architectures of the PICAV vehicle

During the last ten years a particular effort has been dedicated to assure the right to mobility for all people, avoiding any kind of social exclusion and focusing in quality of life, especially for less able (elder and disabled) users who cannot resort to walking and cycling mobility resources powered by human muscles. It arises then, the European 7th framework funded project Personal Intelligent City Accessible Vehicle (PICAV) capable of overcoming the difficulties presented by these paradigms. PICAV is designed to ensure accessibility for all in urban pedestrian environments. This paper focuses on the mechanical design architecture of the PICAV vehicle. First, a brief introduction of the state-of-the-art on green mobility and sustainable transport is given, followed by a description of the complete architecture of the vehicle with concise description of the mechanical and mechatronic design in order to give clear idea of its varied and advanced capabilities.