1. MIT MEDIA LAB: SMART CITIES
Ryan Chin
PhD Candidate, MIT Media Lab
Peter Schmitt
MS Candidate, MIT Media Lab
Franco Vairani
PhD Candidate, MIT Architecture
Wayne Higgins
M.Arch Candidate, MIT Architecture
Image Credit: E-topia cover
William J. Mitchell
Professor of Architecture and Media Arts and Sciences
General Motors visit – Spring 2007

2. THE CHALLENGE OF URBAN MOBILITY: CAR IN THE CITY
Problems to Solve:
Urban density
Pollution (Carbon Emissions)
Congestion (Car Saturation in Urban Areas)
Design Opportunities:
Emerging connectivity
Accessing the resources of the city
Connecting to existing infrastructure
SMART CITIES MIT Media Lab: Concept Car Project

3. FIRST-ORDER ENERGY EFFICIENCIES
Tiny footprint (size of a Smart when extended, half the size when folded) and much more agile than a traditional car, so makes much more efficient use of urban infrastructure.
Very lightweight, all electric, digitally controlled, almost silent, no tailpipe emissions.
Shared use principle allows very high utilization rate and transformation of the automobile industry from a low-margin, commodity product business to an innovative service business.

4. SECOND-ORDER EFFICIENCIES
With large-scale use, car stacks throw enormous battery capacity into the electrical grid.
Effective utilization of inexpensive, off-peak power and clean but intermittent power sources – solar, wind, wave, etc.
A smart, distributed power generation system composed of these sources (the entire city as a virtual power plant) minimizes transmission losses.
This fits nicely, as well, with fuel cells in buildings – where they make much more sense than in vehicles.

5. THIRD-ORDER EFFICIENCIES
Intelligent utilization of a city’s resources, based on ubiquitously embedded intelligence and ubiquitous mobile networking
Cars know patterns of energy prices and mobility demand, and intelligently play the energy futures market
Cars operate in an environment of fine-grained, highly dynamic road congestion pricing, and intelligently play in the road space market
Cars know parking space availability and dynamically adjusted prices, and intelligently play in the parking space market
Cars become Google for the city, efficiently getting you to its resources, while taking account of time and cost constraints

6. Take advantage of the ubiquity of the electric power grid -- automatically recharge wherever you park
Develop complementary relationship to transit systems -- solving the “last ten kilometer” problem
Maximize mobility while minimizing the number of vehicles on the road

7. URBAN MODEL City Car to Typical Car Parking Ratio = 6.1 : 1
SMART CITIES MIT Media Lab: City Car project

8. URBAN MODEL
Traditional Garage vs. City Car (100 cars) Garage square footage = 8.62 : 1
SMART CITIES MIT Media Lab: City Car project

9. URBAN MODEL
SMART CITIES MIT Media Lab: City Car project

10. URBAN MODEL
SMART CITIES MIT Media Lab: City Car project

11. URBAN MODEL
SMART CITIES MIT Media Lab: City Car project

12. URBAN MODEL

13. URBAN MODEL
Develop complementary relationship to transit systems – solving the “last ten kilometer” problem
Taiwan High Speed Rail System
SMART CITIES MIT Media Lab: City Car project

14. URBAN MODEL
SMART CITIES MIT Media Lab: City Car project

15. ENERGY MODEL
Traditional Average of Energy Needed per Person/Day = 350 MJ/Day
SMART CITIES MIT Media Lab: City Car project

16. CITY CAR: DUAL-USE PRODUCT
City Car in Motion
Mobility
(Shared Use)
City Car at Rest
Energy Storage Device
(Renewable Friendly)
* Whenever at rest, plugged into power grid
SMART CITIES MIT Media Lab: City Car project

17. Thank You – Now Part 2 Credits Advisor: Professor William J. Mitchell
Graduate Students:
Ryan Chin, PhD Candidate
William Lark, Jr., PhD Candidate
Tad Hirsch, PhD Candidate
Patrik Künzler, MS Candidate
Raul-David “Retro” Poblano, MS Candidate
Peter Schmitt, MS Candidate
Susanne Seitinger, PhD Candidate
Eric Weber, Visiting Scholar
Collaborators:
Federico Casalegno, Research Scientist
Dan Greenwood, Visiting Lecturer
Mitchell Joachim, PhD Axel Kilian, PhD Franco Vairani, PhD Candidate
Wayne Higgins, M.Arch Candidate
Phil Liang, SNIF
SMART CITIES MIT Media Lab: Concept Car Project

18. PRINCIPLES OF THE CITY CAR
Shared-use, two-passenger electric car that folds and stacks like shopping carts.
Omnidirectional robot wheels and drive-by-wire replace traditional engine, drive train, and steering mechanism.
Swipe your credit card, pick up a car from a stack, and deposit at another stack when you are finished – like having valet parking everywhere.
Recharging occurs whenever the vehicle is stacked, so no need for very long range or heavy, bulky batteries. Inductive charging probably makes sense.

19. PRINCIPLES OF THE CITY CAR
Shared-use, two-passenger electric car that folds and stacks like shopping carts.
Omnidirectional robot wheels and drive-by-wire replace traditional engine, drive train, and steering mechanism.
Swipe your credit card, pick up a car from a stack, and deposit at another stack when you are finished – like having valet parking everywhere.
Recharging occurs whenever the vehicle is stacked, so no need for very long range or heavy, bulky batteries. Inductive charging probably makes sense.

20. PRINCIPLES OF THE CITY CAR
Shared-use, two-passenger electric car that folds and stacks like shopping carts.
Omnidirectional robot wheels and drive-by-wire replace traditional engine, drive train, and steering mechanism.
Swipe your credit card, pick up a car from a stack, and deposit at another stack when you are finished – like having valet parking everywhere.
Recharging occurs whenever the vehicle is stacked, so no need for very long range or heavy, bulky batteries. Inductive charging probably makes sense.

21. VEHICLE DESIGN MOVES: SUMMARY
Small footprint, high agility
Modular
Light and simple - miniaturization, dual-use systems, replacement of hardware functions by software
Shift functions from moving vehicle to fixed infrastructure

22. SHEDDING WEIGHT AND COMPLEXITY
Shift elements from moving vehicles to fixed infrastructure
Take advantage of the ubiquity of the electrical grid
Recharge at every stopping point
Eliminate carrying fuel and minimize carrying batteries
Take advantage of heating and cooling systems in buildings
Pre-heat/pre-cool waiting cars
Rely on thermal inertia
Minimize onboard climate control systems
Replace hardware by software
Drive-by-wire
Programmable screen dashboard
Expand functionality through software, not additional gadgets and systems

23. SHEDDING WEIGHT AND COMPLEXITY
Miniaturize
Very small, high performance drive motors in wheels
Microelectronics everywhere
Eliminate and combine systems
Replace traditional engine and drive train by wheel motors
Eliminate steering wheel and column
Use wheel motors for braking
Design for limited range
High performance, lightweight materials justified by high utilization rate
Carbon fiber cabin

24. CITY CAR VIDEO Animation: By Franco Vairani
SMART CITIES MIT Media Lab: Concept Car Project

25. BUILDINGS AND TRANSPORTATION
BIG PROBLEM:
BUILDINGS AND TRANSPORTATION
In the 21st century about 90% of population growth will be in urban areas; these will account for 60% of the population and 80% of the wealth. Hence, the pattern of future energy demand will increasingly be determined by urban networks.
Transportation and building operations typically account for at least 60% of urban energy use.
In congested urban areas, about 40% of total gasoline use is in cars looking for parking.
-Imperial College Urban Energy Systems Project

26. NEED FOR MAJOR STRUCTURAL CHANGES IN SYSTEMS
Incremental efficiency gains in these domains through new technologies and gadgets are useful, but will not suffice to make a big dent in this usage.
Because land use, transportation, and energy distribution are tightly coupled, the big potential efficiency gains result from rethinking the whole system.
Our answer: reinvent urban personal transportation.