MIT Moves Forward with Smart Cities and Stackable Cars

MIT, a longtime leader in technology and innovation, is now challenging the existing system of the city, as well as automobile design with Smart Cities Concept Cars.

The designers behind Concept Cars have re-evaluated the use and function of cars in the city with new designs that remove the drive train and put precedence on robotic wheels. "We reinvented the wheel, or actually, we rethought it," says Mitchell Joachim, former MIT student and current Smart Cities committee member.

Students, professors, professionals and partners collaborated on the cars under the guidance of Professor William J. Mitchell. The project is based in transology, a field of design concerned with the interrelationship of mobility and the environment. The Concept Cars system is designed to connect new and efficiently designed cars to each other and their environment (the city).

Each wheel includes an electric drive motor, steering, braking, suspension and embedded intelligence to create a piece that is independent from the whole car. "The wheel is the whole car," says Joachim, "but you add volume to include people."

One innovative Concept Car design is the stackable car. The stackable car is an electric car that sits at charging terminals throughout the city with a user base similar to that of the Zipcar. The goal of the project is to have the cars integrated with public and personal transportation to accommodate the system rather than replace it.

The cars are designed with a collapsible frame for stacking, wireless control, integrated mapping and an evolved interface for steering and navigation. The wheels will have a potential rotation of 150 degrees or, if they are independent from the car, a full 360 degrees.

Included in the project proposal is a planned system for power and charging including solar panels, wind generated energy and hydrogen fuel, but for now focus remains on the cars and their robotic wheels. "We are pushing a different architecture because of the robotic wheels," says student Ryan Chin. "We could even get rid of traditional brakes because we can reverse the direction of the motor."

The next step for Smart Cities is implementation. Chin and his team hope to have the project developed within two years. "The project is going to move forward as a real project, not just a paper project," says Chin.

Issues of need, use and desire accompany any project. "We are trying to figure out how the car will be received by the real world," says Chin. But with sponsors like General Motors, Motorola and MIT, there are enough interested parties to help these cars and systems succeed.