MIT Smart Cities CityCar

Acknowledgements

Katja Schechtner for about everything, Vasco Granadiero for the long research talks and laughs, Susanne Seitinger for doing an amazing layout and incorporating your ambient light into the exhibit, and Arthur Petron for the laser cutter training.

Press Coverage

New York Times - March 8, 2010
New York Times - May 14, 2010
Time Magazine
BBC
Fast Company
Business Week
CNET
ABC Australia
Metropolis Magazine
India Times

Project Awards

Best Invention of the Year - TIME Magazine 2007
The Buckminster Fuller Challenge Winner - 2009

Related Links

Hiriko CityCar
MIT CityCar
MIT GreenWheel
MIT RoboScooter

CityCar “is not fantasy: the folding car is coming, and if it succeeds, it could change the way urban environments look forever.”

-CNET
“The Smart Cities Group pursues sustainability, livability, and social equity through technological and design innovation.

The CityCar electric automobile, developed and prototyped by Smart Cities, is designed to meet the demand for enclosed personal mobility – with weather protection, climate control and comfort, secure storage, and crash protection – in the cleanest and most economical way possible. It weighs less than a thousand pounds, parks in much less space than a Smart Car, and is expected to get the equivalent of 150 to 200 miles per gallon of gasoline. Since it is battery-electric, it produces no tailpipe emissions.

Lithium-ion batteries are housed in the floor of the CityCar, which provides a large amount of space, keeps the center of mass low, and facilitates cooling. Recharging can be accomplished with inexpensive home charging units, and with units installed at workplace parking structures. More interestingly, it seems feasible to provide automatic recharging in parking spaces, much like the recharging of electric toothbrushes in their holders. This extends the principle of rack recharging as employed with the GreenWheel and the RoboScooter.”¹

What I did

While with Smart Cities as a Research Affiliate, I helped design an electric charging station and an exhibit to display the concept clearly to Media Lab sponsors. I also developed a mock fuel gauge that synchronizes a gauge in the car with an ambient light within the charging station. Following that, I helped Smart Cities settle on specific vehicle control methods before reaching out to manufacturers.