The Car of the Future May Have...Legs

The Car of the Future May Have...Legs

Automobiles have played a huge part in American history, but the rise of the gasoline-powered horseless carriage was not preordained. Cars as we know them evolved in response to a specific set of circumstances. Given the proper impetus, they might easily—radically—evolve again.

By the turn of the 20th century, inventors had built engines run by steam and electricity as well as gas. Each had crippling drawbacks. Steam-powered cars took a long time to fire up; electric cars were slow and couldn’t go far on a battery charge; and gasoline-powered cars were dirty and required tedious hand-cranking. With every product equally bad, market dominance became a matter of affordability. When Henry Ford introduced the Model T in 1908, he made gasoline cars so cheap that they beat out the competition.

A century later, we may be at another turning point, ready for something safer, faster, less intrusive, and more economical. If we were to begin again, what would leading thinkers outside the auto industry, unburdened by tradition, come up with?

Read more : http://discovermagazine.com/2008/oct/16-for-dr-v-ng