Most of the brilliant schemes for "fixing" our transportation system run into the problem that people don't want vehicles or transportation methods like the ones that are proposed. There are already plenty of places that sell cars like what you show, and I see some around here now and then, but in the real world of what most people use a car for, it's about as useful as tits on a boar.

I saw a lot of this kind of thinking in architecture school, when the Enlightened were selling "new towns," "planned communities," and other great ideas that would make living spaces more efficient. They kept running into those obstinate, unenlightened people who liked the idea of having a nice big house in a quiet neighborhood with their own yard for the kids and the dog.

The usual response social planners have to this kind of ignorant obstruction on the part of "The People" is to reach for the ten-pound sledge of government. By God, we can fix it so you HAVE to do it our way! Regulations, laws, zoning, mileage rules, diamond lanes, you name it.

...this type of vehicle design has been done over and over again for decades, never finding a niche market.

There's a reason. Nobody WANTS one. The Merlin cost somewhere around $15,000, which will buy you a regular new car if you're not looking for something fancy, and one hell of a good used car.