As car | vehicle designers - we used to design a lot of Show Cars - which do not have to be practical, but rather show us new possibilities + inspire us :) Here is my Show Mobility Concept: Carbot
(Below: is the Ferrari Modulo show car by Pininfarina from 1970. Can you believe this design is 54 years old :)
Having a ton of experience with small Neighborhood Electric Vehicles - I know integrating small AVs into residential traffic (or upcoming local mobility zones - with calmed big vehicles) can be done. To travel further; the (closed track) Glydways system shows us how to move 9,000 people / hour in a lane no wider than a bike lane (where vehicles platoon at 35 mph top speed + will have few to none traffic lights on the route - so faster travel than today). For comparison, the much wider car-truck lane only moves 2,500 people / hour).
Or we can design Carbots to have crash protection and travel with our larger vehicles safely. The brilliant (aiPod) Motiv personal AV shows us a small AV that can meet FMVSS safety standards. But this adds weight, cost, and makes the vehicles somewhat larger.
But unfortunately neither Glydways nor Dromos is presenting a door-to-door mobility service at this time - so how could one travel 50 miles or so across one’s region? (The one thing I know about getting more of us to ditch automobile ownership, is the avergae person does NOT want to change vehicles all the time). So, I have created the Carbot Ferry concept, which enables people to travel very far in their major metro regions, and never having to get out of their seat / nor change vehicles - just like their automobiles offer them today. (This is frictionless intermodalism - the user doesn’t do anything :) But here is the important part: The Carbot system aims to reduce cost 4X less than our automobiles cost today. Plus, you don’t have to drive any longer. We can vastly reduce our carbon emissions, say good bye to traffic jams, make mobility far more safe, create better walking and biking space, repurpose a ton of our pavement (parking lots and streets), offer mobility to EVERYONE - and make it much more cheaper !!
It’s been a thrill working with AV engineering guru (and former General Motors Vice-President of R&D) Larry Burns on this! (Below Carbot image is modified Glydways 2-person pod)
Image above: Larry Burns.
Carbot is for moving the 1.5 people / average traveling in our automobiles today. The Carbot is for your Daily trip. When you have a need to take more people, go further with a group, or other needs for your more rare Extreme trip, you will have a wide range of options from your “(AV) Mobility Outfitter”. And the Carbot system also will move goods (inspired by Nuro).
The Carbot Ferry has been the missing piece of the puzzle :)
Just getting started with Carbot design with Guillermo Callou :)
If you know a better way to make vehicles the size of a golf cart (or smaller) that offer door-to-door mobility across a megaregion like Southern California (pop 24 million), I’m all ears (+ eyes :)
Carbot Ferry
Another option for longer trips is a Carbot “ferry” …. a highway-based autonomous platform that can haul a dozen or more Carbots together to farther away destinations. These ferries would be loaded and unloaded automatically at facilities along expressways. They would carry Carbots and for both people and for goods. Carbot riders can enjoy their private cabins as desired while in-route and ferries for very long trips could be designed to have lounges with restrooms and refreshments. Ferry platforms could also be used to haul standardized sea-containers on interstates enhancing the productivity of logistics services, as well as carry (bus, train type) passenger modules (moving just people - without personal micro vehicles).
The Carbot Ferry concept enables people to use a vehicle much smaller than an automobile and reach any location in their larger region - without having to change vehicles. This is a point-to-point, or door-to-door solution. While the Carbots loading onto a ferry is essentially an intermodal application, all the Carbot loading and unloading will be done by automation, the rider does nothing. It’s essentially a “frictionless” intermodal system for the user.
Carbots and Public Transportation
Carbots can also be used locally and connect riders to various types of public transit or trains to go far with a robo-taxi - with Carbots available on the other end of the trip to take riders to their final destination. But, in this case, riders would have to change vehicles.
Living in the Carbot Future
It’s 25 years in the future in Santa Barbara California, a beautiful ocean-side small city. We no longer see many large highway-capable automobiles or SUVs in Santa Barbara. The majority of vehicles moving around in the city are much smaller. We see far more pedestrians and people riding bicycles (or e-bikes, or other tiny personal human-controlled vehicles) than we do today. There are new types of local autonomous shuttles and buses zipping about. But few of these more local modes travel faster than 30 mph.
Compared to 2025, Santa Barbara has transformed in a profound manner, where over 70% of the city’s parking lots have been repurposed from transportation use to better uses. A lot of affordable housing has been built. More small city parks, and some food is now grown (vertically) where big cars once parked. Many of the city’s streets have repurposed car parking space (on the side of the road) to other more socially beneficial uses (common space, places for children to play, or other).
Mixed together with these active and other micromobility modes are many personal micro AVs; Carbots. We see people traveling in a Carbot they own, arriving at their destination, their Carbot drops them off and automatically parks itself - awaiting the user/s return. We also see many shared Carbots, with a dynamically custom look / style that to each rider’s taste. People like ordering a ride in a small Carbot, and having it show up with the seats in the perfect position for them, their favorite music playing inside, and pictures of their friends and family displayed on an interior screen.
We see Chris and his wife Cheryl, who own a Carbot (and pay Waymo monthly for its “Driver” service). Chris and Cheryl use their Carbot 3-4 days each week to travel further than they like to ride on their bikes. They know a shared Carbot would save them some money, but they like always having their swimming and tennis gear in their Carbot, as sometimes they get offers to join friends down at the beach, or to play a game of tennis at the last minute. They also have some sweaters and rain gear stored in their Carbot. It’s like a little part of their house, which they like.
Sam and her partner Joy use Carbots in Santa Barbara fairly often, but they do not have their own, and prefer to use the private Waymo One Carbot service. Sam is a lawyer and when she travels 2.2 miles to court, she orders a ride using Alexa, and her Carbot is always in front of her house exactly when ordered. The Carbot takes her to the courthouse or other places she wants to go - dropping her off at the front door - then driving away and no longer costing her any money. She likes it this way.
While Chris and Sam (and their spouse / partners) use Carbots to get around Santa Barbara fairly often, they occasionally need to travel far beyond Santa Barbara. Today, for example, Chris has a business meeting in Santa Monica CA, nearly 100 miles to the south, and Sam & Joy are going to visit family - also in Santa Monica that afternoon. Chris tells his Carbot his destination, which is an address in Santa Monica, while Sam and Joy order a Carbot to take them to their destination, also in Santa Monica.
Chris’ Carbot travels 1.1 miles from his home to a Carbot Ferry automated intermodal station. Hundreds of Carbots load on and off Carbot Ferries each hour at this station. As Chris’ Carbot approaches the station, Chris is on a call with a friend, a prompt comes up on the screen on his pod - telling him his Carbot will be on board a Carbot Ferry in just 2 minutes and 13 seconds. Chris is relaxed, as he doesn't have to do anything to load his Carbot on the ferry. It’s 100% automated.
Sam and Joy get into their Waymo-driven Carbot, and are on their way to Santa Monica. They reach the Carbot Ferry boarding station, and their (shared) Carbot is loaded onto the same Carbot Ferry as Chris has boarded. Chris knows the Carbot Ferry will travel at 90 mph down the 101 freeway to Santa Monica today, and there will be no stops, as all Carbots on this Carbot Ferry are headed to Santa Monica. Once a trip taking 1 hour and ½ by automobile now only takes half that time.
About 10 minutes out of Santa Barbara, Chris exits his Carbot on the Carbot Ferry and walks to the Carbot Ferry bathroom. He then goes into the small lounge to get a beverage. Joy had also exited their Carbot, and Chris says hello to Joy. They do not know each other.
The Carbot Ferry reaches East Santa Monica Carbot Ferry station. Within 20 seconds of the Carbot Ferry arrival, both Chris’ and Sam / Joy’s Carbots have been unloaded and begin traveling down Santa Monica streets to their final destinations. Chris arrives, and his Carbot finds a place to park nearby. Sam and Chris arrive at their destination, but their Carbot drives off - now to provide mobility to Waymo Carbot users in the Santa Monica / LA area. When Sam and Joy decide to return to Santa Barbara later that evening, another Waymo Carbot picks them up and then boards a Carbot Ferry for the trip back. Chris on the other hand calls his Carbot to pick him up (which parked itself close by), and returns also on a Carbot Ferry to his home in Santa Barbara.
Below: General Motors Design explored a similar concept
