Did you know there's a division at MIT called the Smart Cities group? It's true, and judging by the designs the team puts out maybe we should just leave city planning to them from here on out.
They have a two-seater electric buggy in the works called the City Car that can stack against other City Cars to cut down on space and make transporting easy. Six to eight cars are said to be able to fit in one conventional parking space. The cars are built around an omni-directional robot wheel, which not only allows for impressive maneuverability, but also contains the vehicle's electric-drive motor. City-goers will be happy to hear that the system allows for each wheel to turn 90 degrees, making parallel parking as easy as driving sideways.
The City Car is due to be shown off next year. Until then, we have this video to ogle at the very least.
Technology Review, via Engadget
editor@dvice.com
By completeprat at 6:46 PM ON 11/02/07
What happens if the car in the front has broken, or person in the front car is really slow at starting the car. Will everyone behind have to wait?!
By sarge835 at 8:06 PM ON 02/29/08
u guys suck
By passer at 6:48 PM ON 05/28/08
this look cool...but im not sure f this idea will work...what the owner of the car at the middle want to leave??does he need to look for the owners of the other cars b4 he can leave??
By MECHTECH87 at 11:06 AM ON 06/13/08
I have to agree with PASSER and COMPLETEPRAT on this one. It looks cool, but it also looks highly impractical. For the simple fact that in situations like this one the driver of the first vehicle would have to move their car to let the other ones out. One by one. It also looks very unsafe. It looks like in an accident the car would either rollover and the driver would be screwed or the car would just be totaled. It looks like one of those toys you get in a cereal box or happy meal. I could fit that thing in my pocket. A foldable car? Common now be serious, would you guys buy one of those? Probably not. Whatever you guys are on I want to of. In short, it looks cool but there is no way anyone in their right mind would buy it. It's impractical, the insurance on it has got to extremely expensive, and it looks unsafe. Grow the f*** up!! Come up with a real car next time you morons. Goddamn!! It looks like something my nephew drew. And he's only 3. What, is the car industry going in the direction of pocket cars now? What the hell ever happened to the normal cars? What did you guys start doing acid or something? I don't know...That's just my opinion. But it's also the truth. GROW UP! Stop reaching into cereal boxes and ordering HappyMeals™ to find a new design for a car. Try something that I do and millions of other people do. It works really well if you know how to do it. It's called THINK!!! Jesus efing Christ!!! Dumbasses!!! I don't want to see something like this ever again. I'm 2 the Ranting Griffin and that's all I have to say about that! For now anyway.
By odusanyaka at 11:26 PM ON 08/04/08
for those that are wondering about the middle car all you have to do is look at the video. you simply take the car in front which is kinda stupid cause then you can't you can simply fuck up a car and get another one. this is a terrible idea
By bburn at 3:40 AM ON 08/28/08
I doubt these would be cars designed for personal ownership. They might be more likely owned by a co-op company that invites membership and the members could either reserve a car for a specific time and duration of hirage, or simply go to various places where the cars are parked and 'take the first cab off the block'. Such systems already work with hybrid cars in many parts of the world.
By ahipdude at 6:52 AM ON 08/28/08
Mechtech - all you have to do to sell this car is name it something really cool like, iCar! I don't think the shared car thing will ever REALLY take off. I don't want to get stuck driving in some car that was just used by a smoker, or something spilled and not cleaned, or modeled after a shopping cart.
By luteo at 3:15 PM ON 11/18/08
i really like the stackable vehicle i think we need those in the united states.