They’re Kinda Cute

By | January 21, 2006
4 Comments

Engadget has the scoop on prototype stackable cars:

The Smart Cities team at MIT is tackling the problem of city traffic congestion — still left untouched by the Segway — with a “stackable” car to be used as part of a public transportation program, much like those bicycle-sharing programs in Europe, and stowed like a shopping cart. The wheels turn 360 degrees and contain the suspension and motor, so, along with providing a level of mobility fit for a city, they allow a new type of passenger compartment, replete with customizable displays and seats with “fingers” to catch you in a crash. It all sounds well and good, but we’ll have to see see how much of this tech makes it into the final prototype, which is to be built by GM upon the MIT group’s completion of the design.

It’s not clear to me how this are going to help the traffic situation all that much. But, again, they’re cute. So that’s got to be worth something.

Via GeekPress.

MIT car small.JPG

STEPHEN CHIMES IN: They’re smaller, so they would take up less room on the road when driving, but the real space savings is when they are parked / stacked.

I don’t think this is the sort of thing that a city could or should implement until it’s been demonstrated as popular and useful on a smaller scale.

Here’s an private-sector approach: a NY luxury apartment complex looking to distinguish itself from the competition could buy (probably they’d lease them) a bunch of these and provide them for their tenants. Ground floor apartments aren’t popular anyway, so use that space to stack cars.

It wouldn’t be like a regular parking garage with wasted space needed for driving, the whole floor space could essentially be taken up with stacked cars. You’d need an entrance to add a car to the back of the stack and an exit to take a car from the front of the stack.

This would mean that the stack would have to be movable. You take a car from the front of the stack and the whole stack moves forward to make room for a returning car at the back of the stack.

These cars are EVs – less pollution for the city – I bet there would be a way to charge them while they are in the stack.

These could serve as rolling billboards for the apartment complex.

  • http://triticale.mu.nu triticale

    And I bet that these things will be as effective as the Segway in adressing the problem of city traffic congestion.

  • swami17

    I apologize for commenting on an entry that’s not relevant to my comment. I wasn’t sure where to leave this.

    I’m guessing I’m not the only one making this request, but I thought I’d add my voice to the din:

    When will there be another installment of Fast Forward Radio? Is it gone for good? I’m hoping to persuade you guys to revive it–there’s no one else out there podcasting anything like it.

  • https://www.blog.speculist.com Stephen Gordon

    Swami:

    We’re not gone for good!

    We got sidetracked for a time. I’m hoping to convince Phil to revive FFR as a monthly feature.

    Thanks for the encouragement.

  • http://rjschwarz.com rjschwarz

    If the people don’t ‘own’ the car you will not care much about the car. The stacked cars in the ground floor of your apartment complex would be abused beyond belief in short order unless there was some way to inspect the thing after each use.

    And imagine the bumperstickers that would be slapped on each one during political season. And the garbage left inside, that would all pool in the footwells when stacked. You’re gonna have to have someone hired to police the check-in check-out.