today

This one is almost be almost like a parasite that leeches on to mass-transit systems. A stackable, shareable, electric, two-passenger car. Imagine a shopping cart - a vehicle that can stack - you can take the first vehicle out of a stack and off you go These stacks would be placed throughout the city. A good place would be outside a subway station or a bus line or an airport, places where there's a convergence of transportation lines and people.

These are self-contained wheel units that have electric motors inside. The wheel can turn a full 360 degrees so you can have omni-directional wheel movements. You can rotate the car while you're moving, any direction can be front or back and you can do things like crabbing or translate sideways. The wheel robots, complete with their own suspension, remove the need for a drive shaft and even the engine block, freeing up designers to make new use of the space in the car.

From a heating and cooling point of view, you might want your car to be darker or lighter depending on weather. On the interior, you can customise your dashboard for each person. If I'm an elderly person, I probably want a very large speedometer so I can see it; if I'm a race-car driver, maybe all I want is a tachometer. Of course there are many safety features also.

IMO: There are now a lot of these concept electric cars. What is perhaps needed is one which keeps emissions low and sells well or is distributed free for use by ordinary people, by the Government. In the medium term this should save money nationally.