Next-Wave Mexico City Taxi Concept May See Daylight

An industrial designer's award-winning concept for a taxicab generates interest from car builders in Mexico. Could that nation's capital become a test bed for cars for hire?

By Mike Spinelli Posted 10.20.2009 at 9:46 am 7 Comments

MX-Libris Taxi Concept: A New, Green Cab for Smog-Choked Mexico City? Industrial designer Alberto Villareal's idea for a zero-emissions taxicab for Mexico City won a coveted design award in 2008. Now, the fuel-cell-powered, drive-by-wire hack could see duty as a prototype for a next-wave car for hire. Alberto Villareal

Industrial designer Alberto Villareal had an idea for a zero-emissions taxicab to replace the copious cabs of his home domicile: smog-choked Mexico City. He named the fuel-cell-powered taxi, which maximizes space while reducing weight and uses solar power to supplement its electrical system, MX-Libris.

Officials at Design Zentrum Nordrhein Westfalen in Essen, Germany thought MX-Libris was such a novel solution to the city's car-for-hire ills that they gave Villareal their coveted Red Dot design award in 2008. Now, Villareal says two Mexico-based companies -- a taxi distribution and management firm and a car body maker -- could be ready to build a prototype of MX-Libris, and maybe even put it into production.

Part of the seed money for the EX-Libris prototype could come from a Centro de Transporte Sustentable (CTS) a non-profit, non-governmental organization set up to fund such transportation projects.

The design also includes a drive-by-wire system, which replaces mechanical with electronic systems, and low-voltage lighting technologies like electroluminescent or flexible LED strips.

[via Automotive Design Line]

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7 Comments

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spacenut50

10/20/09 at 10:00 am

Is that a glass roof? or no roof? Also I don't think you're going to have many happy taxi drivers that can't see out the back, and also have no side view mirrors. From where the driver sits they can't see anything to their right, especially if someone is in that seat. Must have been some horrible submissions for this one to win. Your description of the drive by wire system is seriously lacking.

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hypnometal

from New York, NY

10/21/09 at 3:06 pm

I looked at the images on the link, and it looks like this is just a cutaway to see what the inside looks like - the roof is actually solar panels. Plus the partition around the driver's seat is transparent, so it doesn't obstruct their vision.

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AlBme

10/21/09 at 4:51 pm

Weebles wobble. But, they don't fall down.

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lurch632

10/22/09 at 12:43 am

look pretty weak. i mean it probably costs a ton and your trying to introduce them in mexico?

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quasi44

10/29/09 at 9:52 pm

No life loving cabbie in NY or LA would be caught behind the plastic of one of these, but I can see the application for a lot of areas. The potential for green source energy coupled with a fuel cell has not even been scratched. Can't wait for America to catch up with Mexico, as they seem to be taking to these advances faster than us. Maybe if the big three have competition on all sides, they will start doing what they have been capable of. Or maybe we will just get our tv and car and washer-dryer from Mexico. Two out of three already. Before long, they won't need the big industry giant anymore, either. Then our corporate bigwigs will really know the effects of outsourcing.

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ford8n1

10/30/09 at 4:54 am

Boy we have some "nit-pickers" out there-what part of the equation "concept" do we not get? The design will need to have a prototype model built. That concept car will get the necessary extras like mirrors or cameras for rear or side vision. The cab will afford passengers a great sight seeing excursion and also let others hailing cabs that this one is full or being utilized. If safety zones are incorporated as in more conventional cars what harm is there? Many cars use plastic or fiberglass-such as your Corvette. The Saturn when first out had many plastic body panels and the list goes on.
As with any car when numbers are produced the unit cost will go down. A great concept design and one that should be implemented before their is no breathable air left in Mexico City. Cough.....Cough.....Cough....

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garcia80.mx

11/07/09 at 9:32 pm

That is not the final design and it is not ment to be very expensive plus it was designed in mexico so yes it will be released there for the transit company's.