Autonov 1 is the name given to the automobile novelty that was created sometime in the 1970s, by making a once regular motor vehicle engine able to run in both the forward and backward directions, utilizing all four pre-existing gears in whichever direction.

Purpose of design

Its inventor, the late engineering professor Ayodele Awojobi

Ayodele Awojobi

Ayodele Oluwatuminu Awojobi , also known by the nicknames "Dead Easy", "The Akoka Giant", and "Macbeth", was a Nigerian academic, author, inventor, social crusader and activist....

, imagined the advantage of the invention in such a situation as when a motor vehicle drives forward into a cul-de-sac

Cul-de-sac

A cul-de-sac is a word of French origin referring to a dead end, close, no through road or court meaning dead-end street with only one inlet/outlet...

 and needs to make a fast, backward retreat. Emergency evacuation

Emergency evacuation

Emergency evacuation is the immediate and rapid movement of people away from the threat or actual occurrence of a hazard. Examples range from the small scale evacuation of a building due to a bomb threat or fire to the large scale evacuation of a district because of a flood, bombardment or...

procedures or war-time situations exemplify this.

Patent and specification

A patent for the invention was never obtained before the inventor's untimely death. An abandoned Layland jeep was utilized for the invention and it is to this day, displayed at the Faculty of Engineering, University of Lagos during the said faculty's "Engineering week". It basically consists of a jeep, with a second steering wheel built-in at the rear end that connects the axle. A gear-shift is also built here that connects, through a built-in mechanism, to the already pre-existing four gears, such that the hybrid vehicle can be driven on all four gears, in both forword and backward directions. The jeep's central compartment was re-designed to have a rotating floor mechanism that can swivel an occupant from the rear seat, to the front one and vice-versa.

Short of dismantling it piece-meal, the detailed knowledge of the designed mechanism is unknown as no drawings or design sketches are known to exist.