This is cool, but it makes my brain hurt.

Less gears to grind and break and no chance for slippage. Looks great (oh so my feeble mind thinks so).

How in hell do people figure out stuff like that?

They are engineereal gods amongst mental luddites like us!

Another video about the D drive.From the TV show New inventors.
http://www.abc.net.au/tv/newinventors/txt/s2865950.htm

A few comments from the New inventors forum

Did a Google search :

"CVTs should be distinguished from Power Sharing Transmissions (PSTs), as used in newer hybrids, such as the Toyota Prius, Highlander and Camry, the Nissan Altima, and newer-model Ford Escape Hybrid SUVs. CVT technology uses only one input from a prime mover, and delivers variable output speeds and torque; whereas PST technology uses two prime mover inputs, and varies the ratio of their contributions to output speed and power. These transmissions are fundamentally different. However the Honda Insight hybrid, the Nissan Tiida (only the SL model), Nissan Cube, Rogue, Altima, Murano and Maxima use CVT ."

No disrespect to the " Inventer " but it seems he has re-invented the wheel.

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Continuously variable transmission
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

The concept was laid down by Leonardo da Vinci and is already in use. It is nice to see that "one of us " has a crack on it but to speak of " holy grail of invention" goes a bit too far or shows that the " Panel" hasn`t done their homework properly.
The Inventor though deserves some applause for his effort.

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Please google " Continuously variable transmission " and

you will be amazed. Nothing new - is used already in
Cars and Motorbikes in Europe. He may get a patent here in OZ but not globally.

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i'm a little late to the party, but...

I think that size would become a problem by the time it got big enough to pull a "real" car.

cute though...

(and i'm not a big planetary gear fan, from my tranny days)

The article addressed this. This is different from current CVTs in two ways.

1. It uses gears for everything, rather than a friction connection, which can slip.
2. It goes from reverse to neutral to full power, whereas current CVTs can't.