Getting a parking spot in Toronto is akin to finding the Loch Ness monster. You've heard that it exists but no one's ever actually seen it up close. But if what a group of scientists at the prestigious Massachusetts Institute of Technology are working on ever comes to pass, not only could that quest for the elusive - and always expensive - parking spot be eliminated, but there'd be a lot more room for a lot more cars downtown.

They're working on a futuristic 'city car' designed to be used just in urban areas. For lack of a better description, it's a 'stackable' automobile that will literally fold itself in half and take up far less room than an ordinary vehicle does now.

Using the technology, the computer equipped automobile would seek out similar models that are already parked, guide you there and allow you to 'fold' it in half so you could leave it, akin to the way shopping carts are now stored in supermarkets.

"We have reinvented urban mobility," boasts Professor Bill Mitchell, an expert in architecture.

There's only one problem with this grand plan - they haven't actually built one of them yet. But they're working on it and they hope to have a full-sized model in existence by the end of the spring.

But those who like the idea would have to be ready to make sacrifices, losing a lot of bells and whistles, not to mention trunk space. The car would only be about the size of a golf cart. And it's not yet known how fast it would go.

Plus you couldn't really personalize it and they're not designed to replace existing family vehicles. The idea is to make it solely to get to and from your job. They'd also be interchangeable - like those shopping carts - so you simply take the next one available in that pile.

"You would just go and swipe your (credit) card and take the first one available and drive away," explains designer Frank Vairani. (That's his design and illustration, top left.)

He predicts the car will take up an eighth of the space current autos do, allowing more to park in less space. It will have robotic wheels and gamers will love this - there's no steering wheel, just a joystick that steers it. And it will also be able to save gas - it runs entirely on a battery, which actually gets recharged while the car is in park, reducing pollution.

So could this thing actually be appearing in cities anytime soon? The researchers seem to think it could go from the drawing board to the road within three to four years.

And what do the big boys think? They're intrigued but far from convinced. "It is certainly a very promising idea, but I don't want to say it is ready for production," cautions Christopher Borroni-Bird of General Motors. "There's still a lot of work yet to take it from concept to production."

But for now, those backing the idea want you to know it's far from in 'park.' Although if it was, it likely wouldn't take up very much room.