Self-driving trikes pitched to solve Boston transit woes

MIT brainiacs are urging City Hall to tackle Boston's brutal traffic with wild, outside-the-box ideas -- like a futuristic, autonomous electric tricycle -- as officials prepare to unveil Mayor Martin J. Walsh's long-term transportation plan next week. "Most trips in the city are one-person, low-speed, short distance. It doesn't make any sense to put one person in a 4,000-pound vehicle to move across Boston a couple of kilometers," said Kent Larson, co-director of MIT's City Science Initiative. "We should have lighter-weight systems that supplement these more conventional mass transit systems," Larson said. Among the forward-thinking options the city should be considering, he said, is a self-driving, covered tricycle that Hub residents can hail remotely whenever they need a ride.