Citroën in collaboration with Accor and JCDecaux give birth to The Urban Collëctif. The idea: to offer a concept of an urban and autonomous vehicle whose exterior / interior universe is customizable at will. Is the Citroën Autonomous Mobility Vision the future of our city trips?
Citroën, a historic French automobile manufacturer, is joining forces with the Accor group and the JCDecaux company to create a new object of autonomous and shared mobility. The alliance of these three actors gives birth to The Urban Collëctif and more specifically at a concept called Citroën Autonomous Mobility Vision. It is an embodiment of the future of our city trips.
A common platform …
The concept of Citroën is not innovative as such. It is reminiscent of the Toyota e-Palette (2020) or Rinspeed Snap (2018). The Urban Collëctif project is also very close to the creation of the Swiss manufacturer with a vehicle divided into two parts. The lower part, which has the shape of a 4-wheel skate, is attached to a cabin, reserved for users. The operation to reattach the two modules takes about ten seconds. Rechargeable by induction, the Citroën Skate is 2.60 m long, 1.60 m wide and 51 cm high. It can travel up to 25 km / h and is limited to a maximum of 5 km / h in certain pedestrian areas.
The platform is fitted with Goodyear Eagle 360 spherical tires, developed since 2016 in the company’s Luxembourg research center. Without air, they have a solid body inside to ensure the structure of the whole, and a rubber on top for the flexibility of the sphere. On each eraser, fine hexagon grooves evacuate water. These spherical tires allow the vehicle to move in all possible directions: forward or backward, from left to right, diagonally or crab …
… very distinct cabins!
Three very different cabins take place above this platform. They can be called by the user according to his needs and desires, to get to a restaurant, play sports or go from a train station to his hotel, for example. According to Citroën, these level 5 autonomous vehicles circulate on dedicated lanes and could fluidify traffic by at least 35%. The base and the cabins are in ” open source ”, Which means that other companies could in the future offer their own“ pod ”for various uses: medical care, food truck, mobile repair shop, etc. For the moment, Citroën is presenting three studies carried out in partnership with the Accor hotel group and JCDecaux.
Traveling first class or playing sports
The Accor group has developed 2 “pods”. The first, ” Sofitel traveling », Rather surfs on the chic trend and the world of luxury hotels, with blood orange velvet on the edge and on the outside, marquetry (assembly of several types of wood and other materials such as glass or metal). To improve the user experience: a concierge service is accessible via a tablet, induction chargers are placed on board, a minibar with champagne bucket can be taken out of the bench.
The second module of the Accor group is called “ Pullman Power Fitness », And is intended more for athletes. It has a removable chair in the center, which allows you to set up for a rower on one side or an elliptical on the other. A few small attentions are placed in the cabin, such as storage for towels and a water bottle or a small mirror to comb your hair after your sports session in traffic jams … Note that the effort provided on the bike or the rower can be used to partially recharge the electric platform battery depending on the brand.
A bus shelter shuttle for JCDecaux
The “pod” designed by JCDecaux is called ” JCDecaux City Provider », And is reminiscent of the street furniture developed by the company. It adopts a shape reminiscent of bus shelters, with a green roof. Users can use this autonomous shuttle on request, and control their journey using a touch screen. Five passengers can sit in two facing spaces: one inside is protected by a window, the other outside, with its guardrail reminiscent of old platform buses. The materials used are chosen with care: light wood, satin aluminum, black or gray textured plastic, etc.
No production planned
The three concepts of the Urban Collëctif are currently in the planning stages, even if the scale 1 models were unveiled during an event dedicated to the press with a demonstration. The latter was not very convincing since the “pods” encountered several bugs. But who knows … This kind of urban autonomous vehicle may become our means of transportation in the city in the decades to come …
