Traffic congestion is one of the major challenges in cities today. But the problem goes beyond the car.
Mitchell Joachim: It’s really not the car that’s the problem. It’s everything from the wheel to the notion of mobility and travel in places, especially cities.
That’s architect and urban planner Mitchell Joachim. Working with the Smart Cities group at the MIT Media Lab, Joachim was challenged to design a car that’s more environmentally friendly. He responded by helping to literally reinvent the wheel.
Mitchell Joachim: So what we did was put the whole car in the wheel, drive train, motoring suspension, breaking and more importantly, intelligence, inside the wheel package. And what you would do is add one or two or three of these wheels together and you’d have a vehicle.
These “smart” wheels could radically transform driving in the city.
Mitchell Joachim: These wheels, since they can talk to one another within the vehicle, they can also branch out and talk to vehicles nearby or constantly reconnect on a municipal grid. So vehicles would be networked and talking to one another and move in flocks or herds.
Joachim said these “herds” of future cars could make driving more efficient and consume less energy. Plus, the wheels could even help keep streets in good repair.
Mitchell Joachim: For instance, if it runs over a pothole, so it would tell the vehicles next to it there’s a pothole so they would avoid it. And it would also send it to a municipal grid that would say to come and repair the pothole.
Our thanks to Mitchell Joachim.
Mitchell Joachim is on the faculty at Columbia University and Parsons School of Design. He has been awarded the Moshe Safdie Research Fellowship, and the Martin Family Society Fellow for Sustainability at MIT. He won the History Channel and Infiniti Design Excellence Award for the City of the Future, and Time Magazine Best Invention of the Year 2007, Compacted Car w/ MIT Smart Cities. Wired magazine placed him on their “2008 Smart List: 15 People the Next President Should Listen To.” Rolling Stone magazine honored Mitchell as one of “The 100 People Who Are Changing America.”
I think we need these. I also think we need a car that can call 911 if needed. Thank you for bringing this great show to the world.
I have seen several of these cars parked along the street here in Gotenborg, Sweden. I was wondering about them, and why they advertised themselves as “smart.”
This is a great idea, however, I don’t think that moving as a “herd” is so clever. Don’t we all have the freedom to make our own decisions and deal with the benefits and/or consequences of them? Don’t try and swindle the dumb masses into a system where someone makes blanket decrees on what is best for everyone.
Hi Perry, in response to your statement: “Don’t we all have the freedom to make our own decisions and deal with the benefits and/or consequences of them? “
I would say Yes, but with then of course science is proving me wrong, because now we are changing the climate but will not suffer the consequences. Our children and generations to come will suffer the consequences.
Perry, I don’t know for sure. But I think when Joachim speaks of cars traveling in herds, he may be meaning something akin to the way cars (driven by people) move now on a highway. Cars on highways tend to bunch together. Perhaps if ‘smart’ cars do this, they can save energy by – for example – communicating with streetlights ahead so that the lights are able to stay green – allowing the herd of cars to keep moving at a constant rate of speed – so that less energy is used.
Eric, I totally agree. I also think our generation will see the consequences of global warming. There was an interesting report released last week about recent extremes in weather being a result of global warming. Here’s an article about the report from NOAA.
I worry about anything that is supposed to be “smart”. If any glitch occurs, the whole group will be in the biggest wreck you have ever seen. Thinking that more centralization of decisions is good is, in my opinion, a fallacy. It just causes greater screw-ups. There is no one smart enough to run the world, economies or to understand the “environment”. That is why Adam Smith was right. “The invisible hand” of everyone doing to suit themselves gives the best possibility if a good outcome for everyone. When we depend on a leader or beauracracy to take care of us, we hand our very lives to folks that don’t know and don’t care what we need or want. Fear the collective. Always.
It would be nice if he designs a car that does not dump 80% of the energy in gasoline down the tailpipe!
This is a great idea to release that cars. i hope this will be on roads soon. i thanks to Mr.Mitchell Joachim to design this car for us. Thanksssssss alot
This is an interesting variation of using cars in a more efficient way than we\\\’ve used them previously.
Perhaps by \\\”herd\\\” he means something like an planned experiment in Germany in which vehicles will be able to communicate with each other, the driver in front an experienced driver who will, in essence, be the \\\”engineer,\\\” like in a train. Individual drivers can merge with a train on, say, a highway, then when he gets near his individual destination pull out of the \\\”road train\\\” and be on his way.
Another possibility is in reference to the fact the cars are stacked, almost like plates in a drainboard.
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