Bridging the almost-artificial divide between conventional quadricycles and lower-powered scooters, this micro-vehicle fits the legal system in France just right, allowing it to be driven by teenagers who are not allowed to pilot an ordinary car.

Weighing 1,000 pounds and with a maximum speed of around 50 miles per hour, the idea was in part to provide a lighter-weight but ultimately street-safer alternative to bikes and mopeds for teens just learning to take the wheel.

The version of the Renault Twizy teenagers can actually drive legally is a bit smaller than described above, modified to fit within French regulations regarding the maximum size, speed and capacity of a vehicle that can be used with just a road safety certificate.

Assuming the design manages to leap the pond, it is unlikely to similarly allow younger driving in other places, but still has plenty of other advantages – at its size, it can fit into half-sized parking spaces, those extra zones you curse for not being big enough to fit your car in the city, and can even be parked perpendicular to the curb, squeezing it in just about anywhere.

The post Drive at Age 14: Teens Allowed Tiny Electric Car in Europe first appeared on Gajitz.

If you happen to be flying out of Düsseldorf Airport soon, you might be pleased to discover that there is a new “employee” there who will make your parking experience much more pleasant. Ray is a robotic car parking concierge system invented by Serva Transport Systems to eliminate the headaches that come from both parking your car at the airport and picking it up when you come home.

When you arrive at the airport, Ray takes a scan of your vehicle and stores a 3D profile of its size. It then gently lifts the car via forklift-like platforms and moves it to an available parking spot. Because the parking lot doesn’t need to accommodate human drivers with their sloppy parking and careless door opening, twice as many cars can be packed into the same area.

The Ray system is smart enough to arrange the cars’ parking positions by the return date of the cars’ owners. Those arriving at the airport soonest will have their cars parked near the front of the lot so they are quickly and easily accessible. The system keeps track of your flight so when you walk out of the terminal your car is sitting there waiting for you.

If you decide to hang around in the airport for a while (or if you’re stuck in customs or other such nonsense), you can use a special app to tell Ray to chill for a while and leave your car where it is until you’re ready to get it. (The video above is in German, but you can see the system in use.)

Even if you’re the kind of driver who considers your car a prized possession, Serva Transport claims that their system is unfailingly gentle on vehicles. The integrated sensors and radar guidance systems ensure that you’ll never leave the airport to find a nasty dent or scratch on your car.

Unlike other robotics-based parking systems, Ray can be installed in a regular parking lot with no special infrastructure required. The robots roll along autonomously on the pavement using laser guidance, not metal tracks or chains. As such, an existing parking garage can easily and inexpensively be converted. The system is currently being tested at Düsseldorf. After testing and feedback from users, Serva and the airport will decide whether to expand the program.

The post Ray Wants to Park Your Car: Dusseldorf’s Robotic Valet first appeared on Gajitz.

Getting your car into and out of tight parking spots is a problem that drivers have been dealing with since the very first generation of cars hit the road. Almost immediately after that, some wise soul had the idea to add a fifth wheel that lowers down to the street to swing a car’s back end out of parking spots. Although it was a brilliant concept, it never quite caught on in the mass market.

This newsreel from the 1950s shows the original device patented by one Irvin Carpenter. The video shows in detail just how useful a fifth wheel could be for people looking to drive into and out of otherwise-inaccessible spaces.

This video from Egypt shows that the concept is still alive and well today. The modern car was modified by its owner with a fifth wheel that works in almost exactly the same way as Carpenter’s original. Short of hovering cars, this seems like one of the best ideas for making urban driving just a little less stressful.

The post Then and Wow: Past + Present Spare Tire Parking Aids first appeared on Gajitz.