This tiny car can change shape, drive sideways

Why do we call the Mercedes Benz Smart Car smart — when it's really just small?

A truly smart car might be able to drive sideways, like the equally tiny, shape shifting EO Smart Connecting Car 2.

A research project from the German Research Center for Artificial Intelligence, the EO 2 is designed for crowded cities where rush hours are nightmares and parking in nearly non-existent.

Though just a prototype, the EO 2 gives ample evidence of how some of its innovations could lead to truly smart, even flexible cars.

SEE ALSO: I cruised the streets of Las Vegas in a self-driving Audi

Painted white and featuring large windows and butterfly doors, the all-electric EO 2 looks like the future. It drives like the future, too.

All four of EO 2's wheel's can rotate 90 degrees, so that they're perpendicular to the car's body. This allows the vehicle to not only spin in a perfect circle, but when the wheels are fully turned, drive sideways.

Cars capable of this feat could mean the end of parallel parking.