Toyota has developed a motorized stand-up-and-ride Segway lookalike designed to help people scoot around at malls and airports.

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But the “Winglet,” shown Friday in Tokyo, takes some getting used to. A demonstrator was visibly worried about its safety while accompanying a reporter who cautiously tried it on a short course in a Toyota showroom.

Toyota officials insist anyone can learn to ride it with some practice, including the elderly — its major target buyer. Still, Toyota Motor Corp. has no plans yet to turn the Winglet into a commercial product. The Japanese automaker will start testing the two-wheeler this year at an airport and resort complex and next year at a shopping mall, all in Japan, to get user feedback. Overseas test plans are undecided.

The Winglet goes up to 3.7 mph, about the same speed as pedestrians, far slower than 12.5-mph Segway, which costs $5,000. The Winglet can go about 3 miles before needing to be recharged. It is designed to stop easily with little pressure, pivot full-circle and go smoothly over bumps on roads. And it is designed to respond almost intuitively — moving forward when you lean to the front, and turning when you sway to the right or left, similar to skiing. One of three models shown comes with a protruding handle that can be grabbed and used like a steering wheel.

Toyota executive Takeshi Uchiyamada, who zipped around on a Winglet as though he was on a skateboard, said the company is experimenting with new ways of mobility as part of a company strategy to spread robotics. “We hope to create friendly robots that can exist side by side with people,” Uchiyamada said. “Winglet will help everyone move around safely and stay active.” Winglet evolved out of Toyota’s takeover of parts of Sony Corp.’s robotics division last year. Sony, reshaping itself under Chief Executive Howard Stringer, decided to focus on electronics and wipe out its Aibo pet robot and other peripheral businesses.

Toyota envisions a future in which Winglet will be packed with wireless technology so it relays shopping information at stores. Or it may move on its own, Uchiyamada said. So it might go recharge its batteries itself, or come pick you up when you beckon it, toting your luggage. [Yahoo]

Toyota Motor Corp plans to install solar panels on its next-generation Prius hybrid cars, becoming the first major automaker to use solar power for a vehicle, the Nikkei business daily reported on Monday.

The paper said Toyota would equip solar panels on the roof of the high-end version of the Prius when it redesigns the gasoline-electric hybrid car early next year, and the power generated by the system would be used for the air conditioning.

Toyota plans to use solar panels made by Kyocera Corp, the Nikkei said. A Toyota spokeswoman could not immediately confirm the report. The Prius, the world’s first mass-produced gasoline-electric hybrid car, first went on sale in Japan in late 1997 and in other markets in 2000, and its cumulative sales have topped 1 million units worldwide.

Toyota remodeled the Prius with an improved hybrid system in 2003 and is expected to launch a third-generation version by next year. [Reuters]

Traditional British automotive power.

It’s tough to get more “automotively English” than Bentley and Brooklands.

The former is, of course, the famous automaker while the latter is a historic-if-now-defunct high-speed race track near London. Put the two names together in 2008 and you have a new coupe that is the sum of 6.75, 530, 774, 3, 5.0 and 340,990.

How does it add up?

You begin with the chassis of the Bentley Azure convertible, already stiffened to be a luxury drop top. Add a steel coupe roof while retaining in all but one piece of the convertible structure, and you have a very rigid automobile.

Make certain that top matches the lower body, give it an air of luxury and style and add the name Brooklands.

Now here come the numbers. Take the rather traditional Bentley V-8, displacing 6.75 liters, add a pair of turbochargers and the appropriate internal changes needed, and you come away with 530 horsepower and 774 lb.-ft. of torque. The 3 is an approximate number, but represents the Brookland’s weight in tons with driver and passenger. That 5.0 is the number of seconds to get the big Brooklands to 60 mph. You’ve probably guessed that $340,990 is the base price of the Brooklands coupe. With options and taxes you may be closer to $400,000.

It is a beautifully done machine, from its hand-finished body seams to the highly polished solid wood trim to the military straight stitching. Bentley says this is the most commodious coupe cabin in the world, and it feels like it when you’re stretched out in back enjoying the countryside blur by.

With the exception of new uprights to allow for the optional ($30,000) carbon-ceramic brakes, the suspension pieces also carry over from the Azure, though tuned to sportier — as in firmer and flatter — performance.

It is a mighty thing to stomp the gas, feel the back end slew a bit as the power bites and rushes the great machine forward. Once the road starts winding, the Brooklands is surprisingly agile though it is somewhat light-steering. Mind you, as it edges right, then left down the road, you will never forget this is one big, heavy machine…nothing cat like about it. But as a piece of traditional British automotive power, it is impressive. [Road&Track]