We have all exeprienced the frustration with driving in the city where parking spots are often hard to find, tight and come at a price. With population growth increasing rapidly this problem is only going to get worse. To try and resolve this everyday problem, we are finding more and more car manufacturers entering into the micromobility market.

In September 2011, we posted an article "The Future Of Urban Commute" where we featured the Volkswagen NILs a single seater electric car which was aimed at this new niche market. Well, we now have another entrant in the micromobility space, meet The Hiriko Citycar. Think of the Citycar as a child stroller, of course it's a lot more complex than that but the concept is very similar in that you fold it up so its manageable and compact. 

The idea for the electric Hiriko Citycar started out at Boston's MIT-Media Lab before being picked up by Hiriko Driving Mobilty. It's small, fits two people and can travel approximately 121 kilometers before you have to charge it. Hiriko Driving Mobilty plans to start selling the Hiriko CityCar in mid 2013 with an asking price of about US$16,000.

Sustainable and eco friendly, micromobilty is showing no signs of slowing down!

A single seat vehicle.

Volkswagen bring us the NILS. An electric car that can speed up to 81mph.

Designed to hold only a single driver, the NILS is simple and functional. Driving stats are displayed through an LCD panel and a nifty bit of technology is included in the form of the PID, or Portable Infotainment Device.

The PID is an interesting bit of pop-in pop-out technology that consists of a navigation system, music, phone and vehicle stats display (such as the battery charge). This device can be snapped in when you're in the car or taken with you as an entertainment/infotainment device when you step out.

The Volkswagen press release uses the word 'micromobility', and we think that this totally fits the case. The creation of this car, regardless of 'concept' status or not shows a prospective path of where urban mobility could go.

How often do you see a single driver sitting in a five seater vehicle?

NILS cuts down on the potentially unnecessary, in space and emissions with interesting innovations like three part roof hinged doors, or even simply in it's size.

I look forward to the micromobility of the future.