Ever since Henry Ford revolutionized the car-making process with his assembly line manufacture in the 1910s, the automobile industry has been one of the key components of the U.S. economy. Environmentalist, Clive Ponting, points out that the motorization of America was not a fully organic process, because in 1936 “General Motors, Standard Oil of California and the tire company Firestone formed a new company called National City Lines whose purpose was to buy up alternative transport systems and close them down.” Railroads across the country began to shut down despite the fact that car transport consumes six times the energy per passenger mile and the infrastructure uses four times the land area compared to rail. Unlike citizens of other industrialized nations, Americans were increasingly forced to travel by bus or by car as roads expanded and railroad tracks ceased to be built during the 20th century.
Through an analysis of 26 cities from 1960-2000, Australian researchers at the Curtin University Sustainability Policy Institute have determined that cities “should be supporting the investment in quality rail transit systems and building up urban densities around them, rather than increasing road capacity” if they are “seeking to limit car dependence.” America has been entrenched in a car-dominated society for decades; consequently, shifts in automobile transportation preferences and breakthrough innovations in driving technology are the only alternatives to improving public transportation through expensive rail systems. Though an America with a modern high-speed rail system would be the most efficient and environmentally friendly form of transportation infrastructure, it simply is not feasible given America’s size, lack of government support, and path dependence on automobiles. Under ideal conditions in which “electric vehicle capital costs, battery costs, and maintenance costs are at the low end of predictions, and fossil fuel prices rise to the high end of predictions, a rapid shift to electric vehicles may cost no more than continued use of internal combustion engines,” according to researchers at the Tinbergen Institute and Centre for Energy and Environmental Markets. While America cannot compete with the efficiency of rail travel, it can come close to being on par with rail travel’s environmental impact if investment in renewable energy continues to flow.
The federal government should react to shifts in transportation culture by enacting legislation that requires automakers to synchronize their autonomous vehicles into fleets and platooning systems that improve fuel efficiency, traffic flow, and travel times. Many Americans have a strong connection to their cars, and it will be difficult for Americans to wean themselves off the feeling of independence that automobiles provide. Trends do indicate however, that access is replacing ownership among drivers, and soon the market for automobile ownership will be replaced by a market for ridesharing services. In the new market, journalist Clive Thompson argues that it will be much easier for “a fleet of robot cars to go electric than it is for individual car owners to do so,” thereby indicating that governments should closely monitor how autonomous vehicle companies will work with one another to improve efficiency on the road. A future with start-up assist systems could make traffic congestion near an accident much more efficient by forcing all cars to accelerate at the same time. Platooning, or reducing “headways between vehicles in a string without compromising safety” takes start-up assist to the macro level. The platooning approach to traffic will allow more cars to fit on the road, allow those cars to travel at higher speeds, and improve fuel economies as a result of reduced drag and momentum loss. Made possible through the exchange of braking and acceleration data, simulations have shown significant traffic flow improvements from this use of autonomous driving technology. Perhaps self-driving vehicles will eliminate deaths caused by drunk driving and other reckless behavior as they are adopted as the primary form of transportation.
Community organizers, city planners, and sustainability activists must continue to push for greater governmental support in public transportation infrastructure and aid in the transition to autonomous and electric vehicles as climate change concerns rise. Significant steps must be demanded such as introducing car emissions standards that evolve over time, reducing or removing taxes on the import of electric vehicles, and providing electric vehicles with access to restricted transit lanes. These initiatives in conjunction with fleets, platooning, new parking efficiency, and ideals of car-free cities will change America’s attitudes toward automobile transportation and improve air quality. If the private sector and government entities work together, they can create an American transportation system that is still reliant on cars, yet significantly closer in efficiency and reduced carbon emissions of Japanese and European rail-based transportation systems.
-Owen