The guys working in MIT's 'Smart Cities' lab are an extremely clever bunch. Pooled from a cross-section of backgrounds, and freed from the constraints that restricts the people working in the behind-closed-doors world of the auto-industry, they make a convincing case as the people most likely to reinvent 'mobility' right now. Following their Robot city car concept, which stacks like a shopping trolley at transit stations around the city, their next move is a foldable scooter, developed together with SYM and ITRI.
The idea is that it works in a similar manner to the Velib' one-way bicycle rental system recently launched in Paris - and that it then folds up to cope with the lack of space constraints that exist in many European and Asian cities. The master stroke is moving the engine to the wheel - an electric hub motor - which means that MIT's scooter has around 150 parts, whereas the average Vespa has around 1000 - and its two-stroke engine is pretty bad in terms of its contribution to local pollution. MIT's of course, is emission - and noise - free. It looks pretty good too.
And the best bit? This was pointed out to me by my friend who is a vehicle designer. Even the car guys think this is cool...
Images: Michael Chia-Liang Lin, Smart Cities, MIT Media Lab and MIT Smart Cities Group
- to be updated with more information and details shortly -
Posted by Joseph Simpson on 28th November 2007. With thanks to Florian Seidl once again.
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