Faster, Smarter, Greener: The Future of the Car and Urban Mobility (The MIT Press)

by Venkat Sumantran

Consider this scenario of a new mobility ecosystem. Mornings are non-negotiable. You have your cadence, your rituals. And your life is programmed accordingly. 5:49 a.m.: The sleep app on your phone senses your emergence from REM sleep and launches your wake-up soundtrack. You hit “OK,” and your morning playlist fades in. Downstairs, on cue, a coffee maker starts. A connected health app checks your pulse and blood pressure. An alert blinks. You’re not surprised. The end of the fiscal year is always a crunch time. 6:23 a.m.: You take a quick sip of espresso and head out to the garage. As you close the door behind you, you swipe the autostart app on your phone. Your car practically salutes: the motor boots on, the doors unlock, your apps light up the dashboard. It’s all there: your email, your calendar, your call list. The seat glides back to your settings; your morning playlist pumps through the speakers. 6:28 a.m.: As you slide behind the wheel and buckle up, you see that your connected health app has already ratted you out. The dashboard displays your current vitals: 5.3 hours of sleep at less than 60 percent efficiency, blood pressure 139 over 90, resting pulse 72. You’re keen to drive; last night your operating system updated itself and you downloaded a new “travel docent” app that narrates the social and architectural history of the routes you take. But the connected health alert blinks yellow and flashes a message, “Medication alert: please take one Diruil and one mult...