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Smart Vision EQ Fortwo is the future of autonomous city cars

By 2022, Mercedes-Benz will introduce at least 10 new electric or electrified models. Everything from large SUVs down to compact city cars from Smart are included. At the Frankfurt Motor Show in Germany this September, Smart will show off the Vision EQ Fortwo concept, a fully autonomous vehicle focused on urban mobility and user customization. The car follows the Mercedes-Benz CASE corporate strategy, which includes connectivity (Connected), autonomous driving (Autonomous), flexible use (Shared & Services) and electric drive systems (Electric). That basic idea provides the framework for much of Mercedes' upcoming products. Smart had already announced that it was going all-electric in the U.S. This seems like a further evolution of that move. Smart sees the Vision EQ Fortwo as part of its Car2go car sharing service. The company claims that someone requests a new car from Car2go every 1.4 seconds. The autonomous technology will use swarm logic to determine when and where a car is likely to be needed before it's requested. That means shorter wait time after calling a ride. Cars will be requested using a mobile device. The large panel in the vehicle's front fascia displays a number of things, including whether the car is on its way to pick up a passenger or if there's an empty seat available. The two-seat configuration seems limiting, but Smart says it could select extra passengers based on user profiles and final destinations, potentially pairing passengers with similar interests. The Vision EQ Fortwo will use two lithium-ion battery packs with a total capacity of 30 kWh. The car can charge either with a plug or with inductive charging. When not in use, the Vision EQ Fortwo will autonomously find a charging spot. The swarm intelligence networks with other cars and will charge cars at certain times in order to minimize the pull on the power grid. The interior and exterior design feature a number of user adjustable elements, but the overall shape is very similar to the current Smart Fortwo. It's a short, upright two-seater focused on maximizing space in a small footprint. The doors are clear and pivot back and up over the rear wheels. (Think reverse scissor doors.) It's meant to save space and prevent situations such as opening a door into the path of a cyclist. There are rose gold accents on the bumpers and the wheels. White body panels are contrasted with dark tinted windows and displays.

Chicago Car2Go app reportedly hacked, some 100 cars missing

Car2Go launched in Chicago in the summer of 2018, with 400 Daimler cars rolled out on the Windy City streets soon after. But that big fleet just took a big hit: The car-sharing app has now reportedly been hacked, and some 100 cars have been stolen as a result. CBS Chicago is reporting that some of the missing cars have been used to commit crimes. It is yet unclear what the hacking has exactly enabled the perps to do, but the compromised app appears to have opened the doors and given the thieves free rein with easily stolen cars. Within Chicago, there is a 29 square mile area where the vehicles were supposed to be dropped off, but they haven't been limited from exiting that zone at any point. The Chicago Car2Go fleet started out with Smart ForTwo cars and bigger Mercedes-Benz CLA/GLA models; we can imagine the ForTwos are a touch slight for any ram raiding, but an escape car that can vanish in a crowd of other shared Smart cars seems handy for misuse. To address the matter, Car2Go froze its Chicago operations today, saying it is "neutralizing a fraud issue and working together with law enforcement." No personal or confidential user info is said to have been compromised. CBS Chicago's Brad Edwards tweeted today that 12 people have been taken into custody so far, with the story developing as we speak.

Smart ForFour prototype spotted alongside next-gen ForTwo

Smart is continuing to test its upcoming ForFour (seen above) model and the replacement for the ForTwo (pictured at the right), this time doing some cold-weather work in Sweden.
As we've reported previously, the ForFour is an all-new vehicle, and it will have more in common with the smaller ForTwo than the short-lived last model that was co-developed with Mitsubishi. This ForFour is instead a collaborative project with Renault, and could spawn what will ultimately become the new Renault Twingo. Some reports have it that Renault is no longer interested in the Smart partnership, but the fact that these testers were wearing French plates and were spotted caravanning with a French-registered Dacia Duster adds a bit of circumstantial evidence that the match is intact.
The new ForTwo was also spied in these snowy environs. The two-seater is expected to be ready to roll before the ForFour - likely coming to market in 2014. The ForFour, meanwhile, might not show up until 2015.