This week I’ve been back on land attending the annual TED Conference. Toyota brought two prototype cars for TEDsters to demo, and I gave one a whirl. As far as zero-emission vehicles, I prefer driving the Tesla or sailing Golden Glow, but it was fun to test-drive this vehicle. Thank you Toyota!

If you’re curious about what it feels like to drive this little vehicle, it’s 3-wheeled, so it feels more like a golf-cart or motorbike than a car. The rear of the vehicle does fishtail behind you if you take turns too sharply, and if you drive too fast, the steering wheel vibrates.

I did figure one thing out: drive as if you’re skiing! I realized the best way to approach the cones was as if I was slaloming on skis, initiating the turn well before the cone, and correcting to aim for the next cone as I drove past the one before. Once I did that, I had very smooth going.