Let's talk about cars

Some folks at MIT are trying to re-invent transportation, specifically, the car's role in transportation, whilst also throwing off the shackles of assumptions that have defined the car for the last century.

The fundamental question for me is this: Do we need a car? The obvious answer to most people is 'yes', but we often forget that there are many people who although they would like to own a car, cannot for a variety of reasons, the biggest one likely being a lack of a budget for such a luxury. Did I say luxury? Yes, I did. In most circumstances many of us could get along just fine without a car. Yet if you talk to a car owner, they'll come up with a dozen reasons why they could not live without a car. "How will I get my furniture from IKEA home? How will I get my kids to their sporting events? How will I get to work? How will I get my groceries home?" To you I say delivery, transit, transit, and transit. I see the eyes rolling already.

If I were to ask everyone who reads this post and also owns a car or other type of vehicle, "what would it take for you to give up your car?", I'm guessing most of you would suggest that public transportation must get much better. Could you get to work and back using only public transit? Would it save you money versus the cost of ownership of the vehicle you drive to work plus
parking costs? In most cases I think the answer is yes. So why don't more people do it? It usually boils down to extra time and the comfort factor. It's hard to justify spending twice as much time commuting by transit while also being in close quarters with strangers of varying hygiene standards. I know people who literally scoff at the idea of taking a bus anywhere. Add to the problem that, in North America at least, we spend much more money on roads, overpasses and expressways than we do on transit infrastructure. We purposely make it easier and more convenient (albeit more expensive) to drive everywhere. Cars have become an extension of our personalities. But could the balance of transportation choices be tilted in favour of public transit by spending more money on transit resources than on roads?

Then we get into a conceptual discussion of cars themselves. Cars, even to this day, are based upon an outmoded system. They were not designed for the reality of today. Today's roads experience volumes never dreamt of decades ago. We can't build smart roads because we don't have smart cars and vice versa. Humans aren't equipped to handle the added stresses and risks we have enabled by adding more cars to the same kind of road infrastructure that was designed decades ago. We build cars designed to protect us in situations that need not happen in the first place, which make them bigger and heavier than they need to be. Think about how big a car is. Why does it have to be so big? Partly to make them safer. People will buy a truck just so that they can haul something 6 times or less per year. Doesn't that seem inefficient?

Then there's a concept I've brought up a few times lately, the idea that we don't necessarily have to own a car. Why not join a co-op that lends you a car when you need it? Even lends you the type of car you need for the task at hand. In case that's too much of a paradigm shift, how about keeping your car, but lending it out when you don't need it? Most cars spend 80% of the day parked anyway. maybe it`s time to stop thinking of the car as a status symbol and more like a tool.

When a new road technology is invented, you can't adapt your car to that technology, you have to buy a new car. When you want to add a capability to your computing experience, you simply buy new software and perhaps the hardware to support it. Imagine if every time a new capability came out you had to but a new computer and all new software. But with your car, this is exactly what happens. Nobody would be able to take advantage of smart roads that can manage large road volumes until everyone bought a new car. By the time that happened, technology would have already rendered the improvement obsolete.

What we need are car platforms that can be upgraded. Upgraded to perform specific tasks. Upgraded to support new road, vehicle and navigation technologies. Imagine if you could add a feature, upgrade an existing one, improve the intelligence of the car's on board computer and more in the same way you can add more RAM or a better video card in a PC. The price of parts should in theory also come down significantly if standard interface connections were designed for easy swapping of parts and part styles.

Discuss.