Earth-friendly vehicles are said to have small carbon footprints. But the geniuses at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology have built an electric car that has a shrinks its literal footprint as well.

The half-scale car is designed to park in two-thirds the space of a Smart car when folded up. The passenger compartment rises as it folds, passengers are able to exit easily in an almost standing position through a sigle front door. Extended for driving, the car would be a little longer than a Smart.

The prototype uses four-wheel steering, which can angle all four wheels toward the center to turn on its own axis. It is reportedly powered by four in-wheel electric motors. (In-wheel motors are thought to be one of the great design advantages of electric cars, but so far engineers are struggling to build them durable and reliable enough for automotive use.) The company did not release details about the car's battery.

A Spanish company plans to begin producing the car next fall for urban car-sharing services in Europe as well as in Boston, Mass. But don't look for a dealer to spring up near you any time soon. The fleet models will hit the streets as part of a development test for now. To be sold to consumers in the US, it would have to go through an extensive certification process.

Hiriko: The Very First Folding Car is Launched [Press release via MarketWire]
The Hiriko Project (in English) [Hiriko website]
The City Car [Changing Places, MIT Media Lab]
First look at fold-up car of the future: European leaders unveil the 'Hiriko' urban vehicle [New York Daily News]

—Eric Evarts with Paul Eng