ALTERNATE ENERGY: Personal transportation: Where is it heading?

Here in my car
I feel safest of all
I can lock all my doors
It’s the only way to live in cars.
​— Gary Numan
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The automobile — or should I say our personal transportation? What does it mean to alternate energy? The automobile is, by far, the single largest user of oil in the United States. This column will explore the here and now modes of personal transportation that will rapidly evolve over the coming years. It may surprise you where this column will take you. How we get from here to there is changing and hopefully for the better.

Initial thoughts
What is the car to us? Is it a status symbol? Is it a family taxi? Does it just get us to and from work? Or it is our freedom machine? How many of us weigh the costs of owning one? As more and more of us urbanize, we may shed the need for an automobile altogether. It may not be the freedom machine we once believed it to be.
Urbanization puts most of our needs at our fingertips either via delivery to our door or a quick walk to the store or with readily available public transportation. We can visit Grandma every day on Skype. Our job, too, may be done totally online.
I also see a paradigm shift in our economy. We may have a robust economy without the need for so many people; I think that human redundancy is the chilling effect of man’s progress.
In my conversations, one of the common denominators of owning a car is personal freedom. It has the mystic power that you are in control of a machine that responds to you, on your terms, when you want and allows you to go where you want to go. Like the Gary Numan song suggests, you are in your own world and you control it.

The future AI — or Artificial Intelligence
Driverless cars are currently being experimented with. They will be our future though not just yet. AI could lead to a major reduction in pollution and fuel consumption. Computer control acceleration and deceleration can improve the gas mileage of a car about 15%.
Vehicle wear and tear also is a factor toward energy usage, considering how much energy it takes to make a car and the fact that cars get less miles per gallon as the engine gets more miles on it. In particular tires and brakes wear out more quickly with human control. But are they safe? Currently they are beating the statistical odds of traffic deaths — currently one per 100.3 million miles.
My personal and, of course, very humble opinion is that most people want to control their own driving. I believe that AI will only work in the upcoming generation, which won’t be biased by the previous experience of personal control of the car.

Multifuels
When we say multifueled, the general consensus is gasoline and natural gas. Multifueled vehicles are slowly being introduced, perhaps because of the lack of an infrastructure. They are a good idea. If one fuel is not available or too expensive, you can go to the other.
Natural gas is a good choice for several reasons. It will be an obtainable resource for longer than oil. It can fuel a car directly or be converted to hydrogen for fuel cell use. It is relatively efficient and less invasive of the environment because it burns cleaner.
So what will be the around-the-corner personal transportation vehicles?

Flying cars
Several firms are actually planning to market flying cars by 2020. There is no such thing as truly flying car, however. All the encumbrances that a car needs must also go with the flight. This means extra weight. Weight is a burden of all motion, especially flight. You may notice this with seagulls when they leave your lakeside picnic table with a sample of the operation of their natural weight reduction mechanism as you chase them off.
There are an amazing number of startups out there. My favorite is Terrafugia TF-X. Although a prototype, I see this as an example of what is just around the corner with this technology. I can’t do any justice in a written description so check out their video online.
Now how does this fit in with alternate energy? Well, in mpg it may not be so great but in relieving traffic it may offset its use in energy. It was just too cool to pass. Like drones, however, I see them as a regulatory nightmare.

Regular cars
Hybrids will be the rule in the near future, probably less than five years out. Most, if not all, passenger cars will have an electrically driven drive-train. Lighter weight materials and new battery technology will enhance efficiency.

The Segway Concept
I use this term to describe hoverboards, battery-operated bicycles, and other personal assist mechanisms that will be available in the future. The Segway, which I think was a great invention, should have had the supporting infrastructure as the other devices also would require, i.e. more sidewalks or enlarged sidewalks. I also see more use of people movers for long distances under the cities. I like the PodRide, a photo of which accompanies this column. This seems the most practical electric bike concept.
In closing, I see a need for a cooperative effort of accommodating infrastructure to make multifuels and the Segway Concept effective. Hybrids will become the norm in personal transportation. What I’d like to see is some advancement in turbo engines for cars. The basic rotary crank engine fundamentally has not changed since its inception. The Wankle engine is one exception. It proved, inter alia, to be a manufacturing nightmare. Keep your eyes open for artificial intelligence dominance. Otherwise happy motoring!