Reinventing the Automobile: Personal Urban Mobility for the 21st Century

This book provides a long-overdue vision for a new automobile era. Thecars we drive today follow the same underlying design principles as the Model Ts ofa hundred years ago and the tail-finned sedans of fifty years ago. In thetwenty-first century, cars are still made for twentieth-century purposes. They'rewell suited for conveying multiple passengers over long distances at

This book provides a long-overdue vision for a new automobile era. Thecars we drive today follow the same underlying design principles as the Model Ts ofa hundred years ago and the tail-finned sedans of fifty years ago. In thetwenty-first century, cars are still made for twentieth-century purposes. They'rewell suited for conveying multiple passengers over long distances at high speeds, but inefficient for providing personal mobility within cities--where most of theworld's people now live. In this pathbreaking book, William Mitchell and twoindustry experts reimagine the automobile, describing vehicles of the near futurethat are green, smart, connected, and fun to drive. They roll out four big ideasthat will make this both feasible and timely. First, we must transform the DNA ofthe automobile, basing it on electric-drive and wireless communication rather thanon petroleum, the internal combustion engine, and stand-alone operation. This allowsvehicles to become lighter, cleaner, and "smart" enough to avoid crashesand traffic jams. Second, automobiles will be linked by a Mobility Internet thatallows them to collect and share data on traffic conditions, intelligentlycoordinates their movements, and keeps drivers connected to their social networks.Third, automobiles must be recharged through a convenient, cost-effectiveinfrastructure that is integrated with smart electric grids and makes increasing useof renewable energy sources. Finally, dynamically priced markets for electricity, road space, parking space, and shared-use vehicles must be introduced to provideoptimum management of urban mobility and energy systems. The fundamental reinventionof the automobile won't be easy, but it is an urgent necessity--to make urbanmobility more convenient and sustainable, to make cities more livable, and to helpbring the automobile industry out of crisis.Four Big Ideas That Could Transform theAutomobile- Base the underlying design principles on electric-drive andwireless communications rather than the internal combustion engine and stand-aloneoperation- Develop the Mobility Internet for sharing traffic and traveldata- Integrate electric-drive vehicles with smart electric grids that useclean, renewable energy sources- Establish dynamically priced markets forelectricity, road space, parking space, and shared-use vehicles