page_title: CityCar
section_title: Commercial version of the MIT CityCar
hierarchical_section_title: CityCar / Commercial version of the MIT CityCar
caption_attribution_description: English: Hiriko folding electric microcar in Vitoria-Gasteiz, Spain.
context_page_description: The CityCar or MIT CityCar was an urban all-electric concept car designed at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology Media Lab.
  The project was conceived by William J. Mitchell and his Smart Cities Research Group, with the support of General Motors and other organizations. The design was completed and a full scale prototype of the MIT CityCar was developed under the leadership of Kent Larson, Director of the City Science Group at the Media Lab. Time Magazine choose the CityCar to be one of the "Best Inventions of 2007."
context_section_description: The Spanish consortium Hiriko Driving Mobility licensed the design to build a commercial model called Hiriko based on the concept of the CityCar for testing in several European cities.  Production of 20 test pre-production cars began in 2012 in Vitoria-Gasteiz.  The first demonstration trial was scheduled to begin In Vitoria-Gasteiz by late July 2012. The trial was to begin with 6 Hirikos as part of a carsharing program run by the city, with two pick up/drop off points, and the service will be available to all citizens at a cost of €9 (US$11) per hour. Other trials were expected to take place in Bilbao, Spain, Boston, US, and Malmö, Sweden.
  The Hiriko Fold, one of the three models planned for production, was scheduled to go on sale in 2013 for around €12,500 (US$16,400), and the consortium’s plan was to sell the Hiriko to municipalities, including Barcelona, Berlin and San Francisco. The company also planned to promote the cars to cities across Europe to expand their carsharing programs.
  The entire project was shut down and its participants laid off, some of which are now suing for severance pay. The project’s assets were frozen in 2015, and some former employees have revealed that some parts of the car debuted in 2012 were glued with Velcro and superglue.  In the end only one car was ever completed and two were left semi-finished. MIT team leader Kent Larson said that in the time it took the company to try to manufacture Hiriko, its technology had already become "obsolete," as autonomous "robo-taxi" services would not require folding because such vehicles would not be parked in high-value areas of a city.  
  After completing the MIT CityCar project, Kent Larson's City Science research group developed a shared-use, ultra-lightweight, autonomous, three-wheel electric vehicle, called the Persuasive Electric Vehicle or PEV, to move both people and goods in central cities.
caption: Hiriko Fold pre-production model at a demonstration in Vitoria-Gasteiz, Spain.
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