This month, MINI gave the auto industry a view into how they see the future of urban travel with the Vision Urbanaut concept van. Green in both body and spirit, the diminutive, glass-heavy sprite is designed for both individual ownership and fleet use cases. Like MINI passenger cars, it’s small and nimble, making it easy to negotiate in congested areas and easy to park.
The Urbanaut concept wears its colors openly: it’s dressed in a blend of soothing green tones. MINI named the car’s available modes—Wanderlust, Chill and Vibe—in keeping with its youthful soul. The modes optimize for en-route and stationary usages.
Its length measures in at 14.6 feet, but its design packs a lot of space into its cabin area. Like many autonomous passenger car concepts that have appeared in the past few years, it looks more like the den of a micro-house than an automotive interior. Glass is used for a greenhouse ceiling, providing an intoxicating sense of openness, and its windshield can be opened up, creating an indoor/outdoor space on fair-weather weekend camping excursions. It’s an optimistic-looking little ride.
MINI hasn’t revealed information about the powertrain, other than the fact that it is of course electric. They’re at work on it, though, so stay tuned for more information in the upcoming year.