CITROËN UNVEILS AUTONOMOUS MOBILITY VISION CONCEPT
Citroen has unveiled its Autonomous Mobility Vision concept, a modular electric platform called the Citroen Skate that combines with interchangeable passenger pods to create a flexible, shared urban transport system. Debuted at the 2023 Shanghai Motor Show, the concept targets China's dense urban environments and represents Citroen's most ambitious vision for self-driving, zero-emission city mobility.
The Citroen Skate: The Autonomous Platform
At the core of the Autonomous Mobility Vision is the Citroen Skate, a low-profile, self-driving electric skateboard platform. Its top speed is limited to 25 km/h in standard urban operation and 5 km/h in pedestrian zones, prioritising the safety of all road users. The Skate operates 24 hours a day through a combination of induction charging and standard electric charging, eliminating downtime for conventional plug-in sessions. Embedded sensor systems are concealed behind the Citroen logos across the body, detecting pedestrians, cyclists, cars, and other objects to enable fully autonomous navigation. Four omnidirectional Eagle 360 wheels wrapped in spherical Goodyear tyres give the Skate exceptional manoeuvrability, including full lateral movement, which is critical for urban environments with constrained turning radii. Movable hydraulic cushions compensate for road surface irregularities, ensuring a smooth connection between the Skate and the pods it carries.
Pod One: The Cozy Capsule
The Cozy Capsule is designed for intimate travel for two passengers. Its interior uses eggshell-shaped seating and sunrise mood lighting to create a sense of calm and privacy within the chaos of a city. The exterior shell takes reference from French perfume bottle design, with a crystal-like surface that catches light and gives the pod a sculptural quality distinct from the function-first aesthetics that typically define public transport concepts.
Pod Two: Immersive Air
The Immersive Air pod targets group travel and entertainment. It accommodates larger numbers of passengers in a lounge-style seating arrangement with surround sound, 4K displays, and dynamic mood lighting. The exterior uses a dark purple colour scheme with a large sliding glass door, signalling a premium shared mobility experience closer to a private charter than a conventional bus or taxi service.
Pod Three: Wander Cafe
The Wander Cafe is the most open of the three pods, with a minimalist open-air design that allows passengers to feel the city around them rather than being isolated from it. A two-person seating configuration and 360-degree open view make it suited for short commutes where experiencing the urban environment is part of the journey. The floating ceiling and curved cushion seats borrow from Citroen's long tradition of prioritising ride comfort above all else. Citroen's official page covers the Autonomous Mobility Vision concept in full detail, and Hi Consumption provides a good visual overview of how the Skate platform and pods interact.
Why the Autonomous Mobility Vision Matters
The Skate-and-pod architecture is significant because it decouples the expensive technology platform (battery, drivetrain, autonomy hardware) from the passenger experience layer, which can be swapped, upgraded, or repurposed without replacing the entire vehicle. This is the kind of modular thinking that could make autonomous urban mobility commercially viable in high-density cities, where different use cases (commuting, leisure, logistics) need to share the same infrastructure.
Photo: Citroen
For forward-thinking mobility design, TheArsenale carries the Robocar Autonomous Electric Race Car and the Renault AIR4 Concept Art Car, alongside the Smart Bleu by TheArsenale Edition. Explore the complete car collection at TheArsenale.
