We Need a New Paradigm for Personal Mobility — But The Carmakers Have No Incentive To Provide It

A friend who follows the world of transportation just wrote, bemoaning the horrible congestion on our freeways and suggesting that we need a paradigm for personal mobility, insofar as our current cars are so big and bulky, and that they’re used so inefficiently (average 1.1 occupants per vehicle).  In passing, he mentioned the success of the Tesla Model S.  “General Motors should have built the Model S.  BMW should have built the Model S. But neither did, and it took someone with vision and the right resources to make it happen.”

I respond:

That’s certainly a good point. But are you accrediting GM and BMW with an interest in doing anything other than selling cars profitably?  They want ‘em big and expensive, they don’t care if they’re empty, and they want as many as possible of them on our roads. Until they have an incentive to change that, we can all be looking forward to more of the same.