Inverted pendulum vehicle

An inverted pendulum vehicle, comprising:

• a vehicle body frame;
• a main wheel combining a plurality of driven rollers arranged along a circle such that rotational center lines of the driven rollers are each directed along a tangential line of the circle;
• a pair of drive disks rotatably supported by the vehicle body frame around a laterally extending rotational center line;
• a plurality of drive rollers arranged on each drive disk along a circumferential direction and configured to engage the driven rollers of the main wheel in a skewed relationship thereto;
• a pair of drive units including a pair of electric motors for individually driving the drive disks under an inverted pendulum control;
• a control unit for controlling the drive units so as to maintain the vehicle in an upright position;
• a tail wheel arm extending from the vehicle body frame in a rearward direction and having a base end pivotally attached to a part of the vehicle body frame around a laterally extending pivot center line;
• a tail wheel rotatably supported by a free end of the tail wheel arm;
• and
• a stand attached to a part of the vehicle body frame for supporting the vehicle in a forwardly tilted, park position by engaging a road surface;
• wherein the pivot center line of the base end of the tail wheel arm is located inside a circle centered around a center of the tail wheel in the upright position of the vehicle and having a radius which is equal to a distance between the center of the tail wheel and the rotational center line of the drive disks in side view, and
• wherein with respect to a hypothetical tail wheel arm having a base end pivotally attached to the rotational center line of the drive disks and a free end supporting a tail wheel, a first line is defined as a line extending along the hypothetical tail wheel arm when the vehicle is in the upright position, and a second line is defined as a line extending along the hypothetical tail wheel arm when the vehicle is in the forwardly tilted, park position, the pivot center line of the base end of the tail wheel arm being located on or above a bisector of an angle formed by the first line and the second line in side view.