Folding Cars to Solve Pollution Problems
Big cities around the world face issues of traffic congestion, parking scarcity and pollution. A solution that many city planners and administrators figured out a long time ago was to reduce the number of cars on the roads in major metropolitan areas. Most cities implemented public transport solutions like underground trains and bus routes or trams to entice residents and travelers out of their vehicles and into public transport. However, this did not seem to completely solve the issue. Commuters that live far away from bus stops or train stops chose not to drive to a station and instead drove straight into the city. This issue has come to be known as the “first and last mile” conundrum and has researchers struggling to find a solution.
A solution seems to be steadily growing in popularity within some cities. The answer to the city planner’s nightmare seems to be folding electric cars. These light weight electric cars are placed across a city and its suburbs to be rented by commuters. The idea is that the small vehicles will help reduce traffic, decrease pollution and give drivers the option of leaving their cars at home.
The CityCar program sprang from the minds of Professor William J Mitchell architect Frank Gehry. The solution had its beginnings at a design workshop by Media Lab which was sponsored by General Motors and brought together students from diverse fields to help solve the issue of traffic in cities. The group, which met in 2003, came up with the small foldable electric car.
The idea really got some legs when a Spanish group named Hiriko Driving Mobility Group joined with the CityCar developers to create the Hiriko Fold. The new car was a futuristic looking vehicle with a dome in the middle. The car measures 8 feet and is only 5 feet when it is folded and parked.
The Hiriko group is already working with interested cities like Barcelona, Berlin, Malmo, San Francisco, and Vitoria-Gasteiz to set up the car sharing schemes for commuters. The introduction of the cars may be easy in the European cities because most already have bicycle sharing schemes that work on similar grounds.
