Click that link above to read (and see) a pretty cool idea from transportation designer/thinker Dan Sturges. Dan is probably best known for inventing the Neighborhood Electric Vehicle (NEV), a class of small, battery-powered vehicles for use in suburban and campus settings. You’ve likely seen a NEV if you’ve visited a golf course, gated community or college campus in the past few years.
Anyway, here’s the idea, in Dan’s words:
Automated vending machines are a growing business and in the suburbs where everything is a drive away — why not having a mini (robotic) 7-11 in the middle of every suburban block. And in this economy, seems lots of folks would rent their driveway to house a car-looking food + drink kiosk. It would be nice to know you could always run out and get one of those main staples on the neighbor’s (or your) driveway. Just an idea, but it seems to have a lot of merit.
Automated mobile vending machines would work in what Dan refers to as “thin cities” - relatively dense urban and suburban areas that nevertheless require significant amounts of driving to access resources such as grocery stores. (“Thick cities” exist too. Those are areas like New York City or Boston, which have far greater density and, in turn, require different transportation solutions than thin cities.)
By placing one of these mobile vending machines in the middle of a suburban neighborhood, folks would be able to walk/bicycle to buy their groceries instead of driving. Even better (in my mind), is that you wouldn’t need to fundamentally alter the street or neighborhood in any way to implement this change. It’s a really elegant, lightweight solution.
I had the chance to interview Dan for my thesis research earlier this year. His general belief - and I’m oversimplifying here - is that cars today are vastly over-engineered relative to the ways in which we actually need to use them. Rather than building cars that can do everything, Dan’s position is that we need vehicles and systems that are suited to specific needs and settings. His NEV and the mobile 7-11 are just two potential applications of this line of thinking.
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