MIT develops foldable car for busy cities

BANGALORE, INDIA: Kent Larson is quite confident that the new foldable CityCar that he and his team developed at the MIT Media Lab would become a hit one day.

Larson, the principal research scientist and director at Changing Places Research Group, MIT Department of Architecture, developed the design based on the concept of changing the form of a vehicle in accordance with the
situation. It means the car can compress its shape during peak hours without disturbing the passengers inside.

The CityCar, a foldable, electric, sharable, two-passenger vehicle meant for crowded cities, runs on wheel robots, a fully modular in-wheel electric motors, which integrate drive motors, suspension, braking, and steering inside the hub-space of the wheel.

“This drive-by-wire system requires only data, power, and mechanical connection to the chassis. With over 80 degrees of steering freedom, wheel robots enable a zero-turn radius. They also enable the CityCar to fold by eliminating the gasoline-powered engine and drive-train,” he says