Students at MIT in Cambridge, Massachusetts, have designed an urban transportation innovation that will work a lot like luggage carts at the airport: stackable, electric, two-person “City Cars” that can fold up to take up less space. Calling them “cars” is slightly misleading, however, since they don’t have an engine and are intended not as a replacement for conventional cars, but rather as a completely new type of vehicle.
The vehicles are driven by robotic motors in each wheel, eliminating the need for any combustion engine, or even a transmission. This frees up a lot of space, so that the interior of the car is big enough for two, yet the exterior is about one quarter of the size of a regular sedan. Everything on board is controlled by a computer, and the car starts with the push of a button. The wheels have 360 degrees of rotation, which eliminates the need for U-turns, 3-point turns, or parallel parking!
Anyone who uses public transportation will understand what I mean by the “last mile.” The term refers to the distance you have to cover between a major transit stop and your final destination, and that’s exactly what the City Car has been designed for. It’s got all the conveniences of a regular car, without the major drawbacks for city-dwellers such as parking, insurance rates, and gas. Currently working on getting a prototype built, and backed financially by General Motors, the City Car’s designers hope that their invention will be a solution to congestion and pollution problems in cities, causing a renaissance of public transportation.
And if you’re concerned about safety, here’s a video that speaks to the safety of extremely small vehicles!
