Why do we call the Mercedes Benz Smart Car smart \u2014 when it’s really just small?<\/p>\n
A truly smart car might be able to drive sideways, like the equally tiny, shape shifting EO Smart Connecting Car 2.<\/p>\n
A research project from the German Research Center for Artificial Intelligence, the EO 2 is designed for crowded cities where rush hours are nightmares and parking in nearly non-existent.<\/p>\n
Though just a prototype, the EO 2 gives ample evidence of how some of its innovations could lead to truly smart, even flexible cars.<\/p>\n
Painted white and featuring large windows and butterfly doors, the all-electric EO 2 looks like the future. It drives like the future, too.<\/p>\n
All four of EO 2’s wheel’s can rotate 90 degrees, so that they’re perpendicular to the car’s body.<\/p>\n
This allows the vehicle to not only spin in a perfect circle, but when the wheels are fully turned, drive sideways.<\/p>\n
Cars capable of this feat could mean the end of parallel parking.<\/p>\n
Even if you are an expert parker, sometimes the spot is too small for even a smart car.<\/p>\n
At roughly 1,653 lb. (about the same weight as a Smart car), the EO 2 can compress its body, with the panels sliding up and slightly over each other in a sort of crab or armadillo move.<\/p>\n
Its body size shrinks down from 8.2 ft. to 4.9 ft., while keeping all four wheels on the ground.<\/p>\n
Next up, the German researchers want to reinvent commuting again with a concept they call “Platoon.” Each of the EO 2 cars is designed to connect to another EO 2, creating a sort of train of cars.<\/p>\n
The benefit is that drivers in the connected EO 2 Platoon can take their hands off the wheel; the electric car goes into fully autonomous mode.<\/p>\n
No word for now on when, or if, the eventually self-drivng EO 2 will come to consumers.Mashable<\/em> contacted the developers in Germany and will update this post with their response.<\/p>\n <\/p>\n Source: \u00a0mashable.com<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":" Why do we call the Mercedes Benz Smart Car smart \u2014 when it’s really just small? A truly smart car might be able to drive sideways, like the equally tiny, shape shifting EO Smart Connecting Car 2. A research project from the German Research Center for Artificial Intelligence, the EO 2 is designed for crowded […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":5,"featured_media":114950,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":[],"categories":[],"tags":[18],"yoast_head":"\n