Folding car moves closer to reality An electric car prototype that folds into itself to save parking space, and is powered by four in-wheel motors, will be launched tomorrow (Tuesday, January 24) by José Manuel Barroso, president of the European Commission, in Brussels. The two-seat Hiriko, tipped to receive endorsement from EU leaders at its launch, is the result of a partnership of Basque businesses, the Spanish government and the US's renowned MIT Media Lab. The tiny bubble car is tipped to go into production in Spain next year. Each wheel is independently driven and steered by "robot" in-wheel electric motors making for extra manoeuvrability, while the rear of the capsule-like city car can slip under the chassis. It then only takes up two-thirds of the footprint of a Smart car, claim its makers. The consortium behind the project hope this will allow cities to free up some of the many square miles of precious space parked cars currently inhabit. Several European and American cities are to be the scenes for the initial trials. Such trials will closely resemble in execution Paris's new electric car hire/share scheme Autolib, according to the makers. Trials begin in autumn this year in cities such as Bilbao, Malmo and Boston. Passenger and driver enter and leave the Hiriko through a single door on the front of the car. A conventional steering wheel will be replaced by a joystick arrangement or a "haptic" steering wheel that physically tugs at a driver's fingers when told to do so by the on board navigation systems. Production of 20 test vehicles is underway at Vitoria-Gasteiz in the Basque country, which is expected to turn out commercial versions in the spring of 2013 for the consortium behind the venture. "I call this mobility on demand," says Ryan Chin, the researcher behind the concept thought up at the MIT labs in the 1980s. Hiriko's technology and green footprint is five times better than you find in today's Smart cars. Madrid is backing the project with 15m euros (£13m) in grants for the cars, which will cost 12,500 euros each to build.