Creating and publishing a Wikipedia page for City Transformer

In 2013 Dr. Asaf Formoza, then an Israeli Ph.D. student in Mechanical engineering, came up with the idea to combine the best of two worlds – the maneuverability and easy parking of a motorcycle with the safety, comfort, and performance of a car. Many tried to combine both worlds but failed mainly due to the need to balance a 4 wheeled narrow car at high speeds and sharp turns.
Dr. Formoza, with his classmates – Dr. Gidi Goldwine and Erez Abramov, succeed to develop a revolutionary unique design of a shape-shifting car’s chassis. This patented mechanism enabled them to create a two-seater electric micro adaptable vehicle that can change its width while driving, transforming from a fast balanced 1.4m wide car that can run 90km/h on open roads to a 1m wide car that can maneuver smoothly like a motorcycle through heavy traffic and park easily in spaces where all its competitors are unable to use. The City Transformer was born.
The company was registered in 2014, joined soon after by the distinguished car designer Eyal Cremer and the Physicist Udi Meridor. A significant reinforcement came shortly after with the joining of Prof. Johann Tomforde, the “spiritual father” of the Smart.
After two years of Israeli-German co-development and successful tests, City Transformer concept car was revealed at the Smart Mobility Summit in Tel Aviv in late 2017. The company raised $10M from Israeli, Singapore, and American investors designated to build more prototypes for road tests and engineering improvements. In 2021 the company had a second round of $10M with a post-money valuation of $100M.
The capital enabled the company to build in Germany, two advanced homologated 7th-generation prototypes named CT-1, with full approval to drive on European roads. The CT-1 was introduced in August 2021 and was so successfully designed that even the popular BBC show Top Gear tested it against two serial products micro cars.
The City Transformer concept came to the world at a time when big cars continue to swallow more urban areas for highways, lanes, and parking, while 80% of them are carrying only a single person. Megacities became so congested that average speed in peak hours became slower even compared to the time when horses dominated roads. Municipal leaders understand already that the current model is broken, not sustainable, and must be changed. In many cities, restrictions for entering or parking within the city were instituted with long-term plans to push big cars completely out.
In September 2022 McKinsey Center for Future Mobility published an article under the headline: “Mini-mobility might be the next big thing in urban mobility”. Based on a survey McKinsey conducted in eight countries, they determined that “This segment could reach a total addressable market of $360 billion annually across China, Europe, and North America by 2030”.
The revolutionary City Transformer is the most promising vehicle in that multi-billion Mini-Mobility category. It is the only adaptive vehicle that fits in with urban life and does not subjugate them as big cars do. Compared to an average full-sized EV, City Transformer is at least X2 more energy efficient, 75% smaller in weight and footprint, and saves 80% in battery weight. City Transformer has the smallest environmental and physical footprint possible for an effective and practical urban vehicle.
City Transformer design was awarded in prestigious European design contests, including the highest award of the German Design Council in 2023.
City Transformer signed in Oct 2022 an agreement with Bosch Software to develop the world’s most innovative automotive digital solution to enable a seamless, user-friendly connection to the digital.
City Transformer is due to sign a contract with a few municipalities in Europe to launch a shared fleet pilot in those cities during 2024.
By April 2023 the company is expected to select the production plant. Serial production and market launch are due to start in Q4 2024.