EV Designed to Spark U.K. Kids’ Interest in Cars

LONDON – A sleek 2-seat concept roadster unveiled here is powered by twin electric motors and is equipped with independent suspension, automatic braking and a driver-assist system that detects obstacles.

Top speed is 10 mph (16 km/h). The 5- to 10-year-olds it’s designed for will have to wait to drive any faster.

Young Driver, which bills itself as the U.K.’s largest provider of driving lessons for those under 17, developed the car in a bid to promote safety for a new generation of tech-savvy motorists.

The unnamed car launches in May, when youngsters will be able to drive at selected Young Driver venues. Roads will be created to let them maneuver, negotiate intersections, follow traffic signals, drive in reverse and park. Adult observers can stop the car by remote control if necessary. (The company makes no mention of texting while driving.)

The body was styled by Chris Johnson, who has more than 30 years’ experience designing bodywork and interiors for manufacturers including Jaguar Land Rover, Ford, General Motors, John Deere and Dutch truck maker DAF.

“We have realized that by catching children at a much younger age, when they are more aware and able to take on board the safety message, we can achieve improved driver safety better in that younger age group,” Kim Stanton, director-Young Driver, tells WardsAuto.

In addition to teaching safety, Young Driver hopes the downsized EV will help stem the exodus away from driving that has seen U.K. 17- to 21-year-olds with driver’s licenses decline from 44% in the early 1990s to 29% in 2014.

“I think this has a lot of potential to get youngsters more interested in cars,” Stanton says. “We are aware that people are not driving so much or even taking their driving test and a lot of that is due to improvements in public transport and the sheer cost of learning to drive and then the insurance required.

“Yet our main reason for everything we do is to try to reduce accidents. We know drivers are most vulnerable within six months, and we have seen in the seven years we have been running this program that by following the youngsters after they’ve left us and taken their driving test that there are fewer accidents,” says Stanton, whose company has provided more than 300,000 driving lessons to U.K. youths at more than 40 venues.

“Figures show that if a driver has had lessons from a younger age, he or she is 50% less likely to have an accident in the first six months of driving.”

The car will be shown in public for the first time from March 31-April 3 during Gadget Show Live in Birmingham. Kids will have a chance to test-drive one of four working models.