The EO Smart Connecting Car 2 is an innovative design from DFKI Robotics Innovation Center, based in Bremen, Germany, where a team of software developers and designers, as well as electronics and construction engineers, have been refining the smart micro car project for the last three years.

First announced in 2012, the team have moved onto their second iteration of the vehicle. It drives like a traditional car but because each wheel is powered by its own motor, it also has the capability of driving sideways, allowing it to slide into tight spaces in urban areas where parking is limited, explains Timo Birnschein, project manager for the vehicle.

He adds: "The whole process -- the transition between normal driving and driving sideways -- takes about four seconds."

The prototype has a top speed of 65 km/h (or 40mph) and can travel 50 to 70 kilometers (30 to 44 miles) on a single four-hour full charge of the battery. But it's the two-seater's ability to shrink to around 1.5 meters in length that has the team excited about its uses in future cities, says Birnschien.

"It is able to reduce it's own siz​e by about 80cm, which makes it almost as small as a bike in length. And with this kind of feature you can go into very tiny parking spaces," he says. "You are still able to turn on the spot, you are still able to drive sideways and you are still able to connect to charging stations, for example."

Looking like part "Transformer" and part DeLorean out of "Back to the Future," the car reduces its siz​e by partly folding itself. It shifts the rear axle to the front and slides on a set of rails which raises the interior upwards, while still remaining comfortable for the passenger.

Touted as a "micro car for a megacity," the team are working hard to make their vehicle roadworthy and envision it as a communal public resource, similar to existing urban car-sharing schemes. The idea is that when you need a car, you could head to your nearest docking station and select the vehicle that's charged enough to drive the distance you need. It would then detach itself and you would be on your way.

"[It] is very comparable feature-wise to the first prototype," says Birnschein. "The second version is much more reliable and almost road-legal. It's not really, but it's almost there and we are trying to bring this car to the road -- but it's a big hassle to be honest because we have so many new technologies in the car that the technical advisory guys are skeptical."

He adds that the team have invited several manufacturers to test drive the vehicle, with positive response, but the enthusiasm ends there.

"The problem is for most car manufacturers, they are not really interested if they didn't invent it themselves. They may buy from Bosch or Siemens or whatever, technology parts like ESP and other things, but not complete systems."

But his team remain undeterred as they continue working on autonomous features like auto pilot and self parking. Meanwhile Birnschein likens the situation to the rise in smartphones over the last decade -- from non-existence to oversaturation.

More and more people are drawn into the big cities of the world. Consequently, all of these cities have one challenge to face: Not enough parking space and very congested traffic, especially during rushhours. This becomes even more problematic when big cars are just used by single individuals.
Therefore, small, comfortable and safe cars are required and, in addition to that, the electric drive train provides possibilities to completely rethink what we know about individual transportation.

EO smart connecting car 2 is the result of consequent and ongoing research, development, and optimization of the EO smart connecting car concept. Like its predecessor, it features:

normal driving
    driving diagonal
    turning on the spot
    even driving sideways
    and shrinking from ca. 2.6 m down to ca. 1.8 m
    while maintaining a comfortable seating position.

Big windows guarantee a good perception of the surrounding environment while an intuitive user interface provides easy access to all drive modes the robotic car has to offer.

Moreover, the car’s computer and its auto-navigation system provides extensive driver assistance functions. Autonomous parking, even within narrow and congested roads, is possible. Later, an autopilot will be able to drive the car without a single passenger intervention creating the driverless car.

A team of nine engineers and a designer as well as several students created the robotic car between Oct. 2011 and Jul. 2014. To prove the feasibility of the technical requirements an integration study as well as a detailed physics simulation model was built. Both utilized the final axial modules and most of the final electronic components but was controlled by a “Rapid Control Prototyping” system.

After successful testing a chassis was constructed and built. At the same time, software development was underway for highly integrated, dedicated, and custom built vehicle control units.

One problematic aspect of electric vehicles is the charging cable. To face this issue, a versatile, foldable docking interface was constructed that fits into the body of the car and also allows for connecting extension modules, like range extenders, passenger modules, or cargo modules.