This is nothing. Enzo Ferrari used to employ a pair of midgets for his first prototype.

You can't steer horses the way you can a car. They tend to wander where they want. This would keep the driver in control and the poop off the streets.

this better not be the start of putting animals in cages and letting people watch them move around in a small area, nothing like thier natural habitat.

this better not be the start of that....that would be just mean

@kickace: all the horse has to do is walk/run right? that's gotta be better than pulling/carrying stuff

@jarque: And better than it sitting in a corral all day because us lazy humans are too lazy to get off our butts long enough to walk the 12mph to our destination anyway.

@Kaiser-Machead: As if it wasn't funny enough, being the first comment puts it over the top.

If steampunk wasn't retro enough for you, now there's horsepunk.

Seems like this early prototype could be streamlined some. What if the horse's musculature was utilized in a way that would achieve acceleration by applying force via its hooves directly against the ground? Now if we could only find a way to put a seat directly on the beast itself, then we'd really have something.

If you think about it, riding a horse is actually more energy efficient that cars.

Although I never understood why no one continued on the turbine hybrid electric car like the EV-1 series? That totally had a lot of potential.

Talk about putting the cart around the horse!

Does it have a transmission or is it direct drive?

@ripfire4:
"I never understood why no one continued on the turbine hybrid electric car like the EV-1 series?"

The EV-1s had some inherent flaws, and were never intended to be anything more than an exploratory exercise - this is why they were never sold, only leased.

"Despite unfulfilled waiting lists and positive feedback from the lessees, GM stated that it could not sell enough of the cars to make the EV1 profitable. In fact, during the later stages of development for the car, GM officials claimed that they stood no chance of ever making a profit on the EV1 itself."

"One industry official said that each EV1 cost the company about US$80,000, including research, development and other associated costs."

I seem to remember that a power output of 1 horsepower would actually require approximately 1.5 horses to get the job done... so really this is like a 2/3hp vehicle. But you know, whatever.

i dont mean to be a ball buster but:
[gizmodo.com]

you reported on this 8 months ago...

@nutbastard: Actually, I take back what I said. They're continuing the concept with Chevy Volt.

Boy with innovation like this, the region has nothing to worry about when they run out of oil.

@med: Only on average - at peak, horses can produce somewhere around 15HP.

Not that it matters :P

What, no carrot on a string?

@Angus:
I don't know what to think about you knowing that.

Wouldn't it be just a tad more efficient to RIDE the horse instead?

@andy:

"horses can produce somewhere around 15HP"

"Horsepower" was a pretty ethereal concept before, but now it's completely ridiculous. so my car only has like 9 Good horsepower? and 130 Lazy horsepower?

@GeekyNerdGuy: Yeah the poop would be off the streets, but you'd be encased in a feces capsule rolling along.

Lovely.

For getting rid of gas prices, I see potential here....but thats if I used 3 horses and put a hole behind their butts...

@LordZedd: the upside to this is no saddle sores.

This is stupid. Lose 100 idiot points by making this a pickup and putting the horse outside the cabin...

@mildretard: just blame a photographic memory and gizmodo's search function

@nutbastard: lol
Yeah I suppose it depends on whether we're talking about Clydesdales or shetlands. Motivation is clearly a factor here.