Car think, car do. Seat looks to the future at the Mobile World Congress and reflects on a change which has for some time now been taking place in the automotive world. Manufacturers are changing from mere producers of cars to providers of services (one needs only thing of the recent merger of BMW’s Drive Now and Mercedes-Benz’s Car2Go), and cars are changing as well. Here in Barcelona, Seat has presented Minimò, a concept city car equipped with artificial intelligence.

Completely electric and with a very futuristic look, it is not dissimilar from the Renault Twizy, but it takes the concept further. It is completely covered, has two comfortable seats inside, and a streamlined body with a large triangular LED headlight. At 2.5 metres long and 1.4 metres wide, it takes up half the space of a traditional city car and is only slightly bigger than a motorbike. In practice, two could fit into a single parking space. The doors are asymmetrical, with the smaller one on the left for the driver, offering a large area of glass for increased visibility, while the one on the right is larger, making it easier to get in and out of the vehicle.

But there are other more interesting ideas. The first is the interchangeable battery. It is not necessary to connect Minimò to a power source in order to recharge it. All users need to do is change the battery, just as one would with the TV remote. The other factor is autonomous driving. In the concept from the Spanish manufacturer, the vehicle will be able to travel the streets alone, picking up passengers who have called it via an app. A fascinating vision, although we don’t know when we will see it become a reality.