Car of the Future: Infographic
Here’s a neat infographic that presents these folks’ idea of the car of the future. No doubt there are some good, futuristic ideas here that differentiate this thing from what we have now, but I don’t believe this is the direction we’ll be taking.
In particular, this follows the auto paradigm of the 20th Century: a big heavy and bulky box on four wheels. I envision a wholesale shift in paradigm, where car ownership becomes far less prevalent, and is replaced in the main by a network of transportation solutions: mass transit, car sharing, ride sharing, e-bikes, ultra-small vehicles for urban commuting and package delivery, etc. Note that a few of our listings in our cleantech investment opportunities centers around transportation.
I also predict that, despite the stranglehold that the oil companies have on us, we will eventually break free. The concept that the car depicted in the infographic runs on gasoline refined out of gooey, planet-killing tar sands seems absurd.
This Raymond Loewy design was just a stylistic exercise. His most popular car designs were Studebakers, one of which (the Commander) somewhat resembled this version, tho’ the implication of high speed here eluded the real car.
You are no doubt right that in the megalopolis, where many mobility options will be available, such vehicles won’t be seen much. But speed will be even more important in the future, air and train travel will be crowded, so multi-person vehicles than can journey safely at high speed over long distances will be part of the picture. And they may be powered by a reciprocating engine that burns some synthetic fuel so efficiently that no waste is produced. Loewy’s design might not be that far off, tho’ it won’t come in a convertible version.