Hi, and welcome to Auto Aber Klein, which means cars, but small.
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This is Episode 1, The Concept.
We all need to get from point A to point B, but cars have become too big, too fast, and too heavy to navigate cities safely.
They take up too much space, create too much noise, emit fine particulate matter, and detract from the urban environment. Through their ever growing size they greatly contribute to surface sealing leading to heat islands, are a grave danger to more vulnerable road users and are the single biggest source not only of fine particle matter, but to microplastic in cities which has been directly linked to dementia, respiratory and cardiovascular diseases (1). Every one of these points alone (and there are many, many more) would be a great reason to reduce car traffic. Through their deviation from the human scale, cars create ugly, misanthropic cities, where the environment is actively harmful and unwelcoming to humans.
Bundle all of these arguments together and it becomes obvious that mobility as we know it has to change. Yet, individual transportation remains essential in today’s world.
Clearly, we need a solution.
However, simply raising costs—such as road taxes or fuel prices—or completely banning cars from city centers isn't the answer as it unfairly restricts low income individuals who are already struggling more than those with a higher income. Public transport is often suggested as the solution, but people tend to polarize: they want either just the bus, just the bike, or just the car. We believe the real solution lies in compromise. Instead of removing luxury entirely, we need to reduce it. Taking away peoples luxury of the car and individual transport altogether will never work.
Cars today all fall under the same vehicle class, and even city cars today are enormous, built for high-speed roads like the Autobahn, and cities are adapting to these increasingly large vehicles.
The result? Large cars with massive batteries —often weighing half a ton— used for commutes, despite the average commute in Germany being 17km (2). These cars are far from human scale. As a result, cyclists, pedestrians and those in smaller vehicles feel endangered. Compare this to rail traffic, where you have trams, light trains, intercity trains, express trains, and high-speed trains. They are all distinct, each with its own purpose, and you’ll never see a high-speed train navigating a city street, nor a tram on a high-speed network. We need a similar categorization for road traffic, especially for cities.
We propose dividing cars into two categories: Intercity cars and City cars.
We fully acknowledge that large cars have their place. They are cultural icons with a rich history, offering the freedom to travel independently—even over long distances. They serve as a means of personal expression and enable families to go on holiday together. However, their place is not in cities. In urban environments, large cars obstruct more sustainable modes of transport, degrade the visual appeal of public spaces, and occupy excessive space—even when parked. Quite literally, they stand in the way of creating a livable city.
For urban mobility, we propose a shift: reducing the width, speed, and weight of vehicles allowed within city limits. This concept aligns with the EU’s L7e and L6e categories, but with stricter standards—specifically, a maximum width of 1.30 meters and a city-wide speed limit of 30 km/h.
"Cars give people wonderful freedom and increase their opportunities. But they also destroy the environment, to an extent so drastic that they kill all social life. [...] Danger will be a persistent feature of the car so long as we go on using high-speed vehicles for local trips." Alexander, 1977, pp. 64–65
AutoAberKlein is founded on the idea that the built environment—and the streets that result from it—presents a major challenge:
Streets have an urban-planning-related maximum width that must accommodate sidewalks, bike lanes, public transport, and cars. The width of vehicles is the primary problem when it comes to creating space for other mode of transportation or recreational areas. In short: wide vehicles must either become narrower or be denied access to the city altogether, allowing space for more environmentally friendly transport.
Cars and even busses, by contrast, are simply too large, too fast, and too heavy. bicycles and walking are closer to human scale, and mobility at human scale results in cities in human scale.
However, traveling by foot or bike isn’t always the right choice.
As people like Christopher Alexander emphasized, automated individual transport is a necessity. We do need some form of car, but one that’s smaller and narrower.
The space we free up can be used for bike paths, green areas, or playgrounds. While the design of streetscapes can only be altered so much once they’re in place, the space they offer and the space we gain can be put to good use in many meaningful ways.
For example, the concept of induced demand works both ways. If you add more lanes for cars, you'll get more car traffic. But if you dedicate more space to green areas, bike paths, and pedestrian zones, people will naturally switch to bikes or walking and leave their cars behind more often, reducing traffic even further. Additionally, green spaces in cities play a key part in cooling cities naturally, avoiding the building of heat islands and providing comfortable shade.
"Under theoretical analysis [...], the only kind of transportation system which meets all the needs is a system of individual vehicles..." Alexander, 1977, p.66
We at AutoAberKlein view the bicycle as the optimal mode of transportation, and it sits at the heart of our concept. A lighter, smaller car plays a huge role in enhancing traffic safety (3) for cyclists, just as a a narrower width and maximum speed of 30 km/h (4) improve safety overall. At 30 km/h, the braking distance including the reaction time is shorter than the distance covered during just the reaction time at 50 km/h. As a result, an accident at 30 km/h can be completely avoided, while at 50 km/h it would occur without any braking (5).
A bicycle emits no pollution, doesn’t damage roads, and has a minimal environmental impact during production. For all these reasons, we must prioritize the infrastructure for bicycles as our main mode of transportation. But, as we said, automated individual transport remains necessary to meet the diverse needs of the population.
A significant portion of the population is either physically disabled, struggles with conditions like social anxiety, or cannot take alternative transport for other reasons. Goods that are too large or hazardous to be transported by cargo bike or public transport can also be moved more safely using individual transport.
Respecting the needs of those who cannot rely on bicycles or public transit—whatever the reason—means ensuring that automated individual transport options are available to everyone, without conditions. Individual transport offers freedom every person should have access to.
To reduce individual transport on the streets, including cargo bikes and e-bikes,
we need to not only improve the bike network but also expand key public transport routes. Buses have too many disadvantages, including their large footprint and sealed surfaces they require, and they pose significant dangers to cyclists. Instead, we propose the Meterspur tram system, which uses a one-meter-wide track common in Germany. Trams offer high capacity, the possibility for green rails, are psychologically more acceptable, and provide safer environments for unprotected road users as their path or travel is clearer.
The size—or, more accurately, the lack of size—of the car’s battery is another crucial factor.
While some cars carry up to 700 kilograms of battery, or buses up to 5 tons, city cars can use a small, portable, exchangeable battery system, similar to Taiwan’s GoGoRo or Ansmann Greenpack system. This system allows for the transportation of 1-5 batteries, each weighing 10-15 kilograms, easily covering the average commute of 17 kilometers each way, easily achieving up to 150km of range (Range Silence Nissan 150km, 60kg Battery) (6).
Source: gogoro
Source: Ansmann
We envision a transportation system that replaces cars with smaller vehicles,
creating more space for cycling and walking traffic. This offers a more environmentally friendly and healthier alternative to cars or even a dense, individual-traffic-free bus network. It provides cyclists with a safe, enjoyable environment, without restricting individual transport. Expanded bike infrastructure—enabled and promoted by AutoAberKlein—will encourage people to voluntarily switch to bikes or other eco-friendly modes of transportation, leaving their cars behind more often. All this can be achieved at a relatively low cost and effort.
Ultimately, the choice we face at AutoAberKlein is not "SUV or AutoAberKlein?"
Because the conventional car is no longer a viable option. The real question we all must ask is: Do we want to travel by bus in the future, or do we want to embrace a more environmentally and community-friendly, individualized approach?
And this approach is AutoAberKlein.
We've created this website to share a transportation concept we've been working on. We're not doing this out of boredom, we have plenty of things to do. But we believe the time is right to share our ideas and to network. We know no concept is born perfect, which is why we're eager for feedback, criticism, and the chance to connect with like-minded individuals... like you! If you're passionate about traffic or urban development and have an opinion to share, we’d love to hear from you.
This website is about sharing this approach, the ideas, the findings, and the solutions we’ve discovered. We're looking for people with expertise and similar interests. We're always open to feedback, so please reach out if you have any thoughts. Thank you, and we look forward to seeing you in the next article.
Interesse an einer Kollaboration?
Dann schreib' mir gerne eine Nachricht. Ich freue mich von Dir zu hören!
Reference list:
Alexander, C. (1977). A pattern language: Towns, buildings, construction (pp. 64–65, p66). Oxford University Press.
(1) https://www.augsburger-allgemeine.de/wirtschaft/Umweltschutz-SUV-Boom-Wie-gefaehrlich-ist-der-hoehere-Abrieb-von-Reifen-und-Bremsen-id60742601.html, accessed 05.10.2025
(2) https://www.bbsr.bund.de/BBSR/DE/startseite/topmeldungen/pendeln-2021.html, accessed 05.10.2025
(3) https://journals.vilniustech.lt/index.php/Transport/article/view/7081, accessed 05.10.2025
(4) https://wri-indonesia.org/en/insights/bigger-isnt-always-better-narrow-traffic-lanes-make-cities-safer, accessed 05.10.2025
(5) Cities Safer by Design (2015)
(6) https://silence-mobility.nissan.de, accessed 05.10.2025
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