For the first time in half a century, real transformative innovations are coming to our world of passenger transportation. The convergence of new shared mobility services with automated and electric vehicles promises to significantly reshape our lives and communities for the better'or for the worse.
The dream scenario could bring huge public and private benefits, including more transportation choices, greater affordability and accessibility, and healthier, more livable cities, along with reduced greenhouse gas emissions. The nightmare scenario could bring more urban sprawl, energy use, greenhouse gas emissions, and unhealthy cities and individuals.
In Three Revolutions, transportation expert Dan Sperling, along with seven other leaders in the field, share research–based insights on potential public benefits and impacts of the three transportation revolutions. They describe innovative ideas and partnerships, and explore the role government policy can play in steering the new transportation paradigm toward the public interest'toward our dream scenario of social equity, environmental sustainability, and urban livability.
Many factors will influence these revolutions'including the willingness of travelers to share rides and eschew car ownership; continuing reductions in battery, fuel cell, and automation costs; and the adaptiveness of companies. But one of the most important factors is policy.
Three Revolutions offers policy recommendations and provides insight and knowledge that could lead to wiser choices by all. With this book, Sperling and his collaborators hope to steer these revolutions toward the public interest and a better quality of life for everyone.
Contents
Preface Acknowledgments
Chapter 1. Will the Transportation Revolutions Improve Our Lives'or Make Them Worse? \ Daniel Sperling, Susan Pike, and Robin Chase Chapter 2. Electric Vehicles: Approaching the Tipping Point \ Daniel Sperling Chapter 3. Shared Mobility: The Potential of Ride Hailing and Pooling \ Susan Shaheen Chapter 4. Vehicle Automation: Our Best Shot at a Transportation Do-Over? \ Daniel Sperling, Ellen van der Meer, and Susan Pike Chapter 5. Upgrading Transit for the Twenty-First Century \ Steven E. Polzin and Daniel Sperling Chapter 6. Bridging the Gap Between Mobility Haves and Have-Nots \ Anne Brown and Brian D. Taylor Chapter 7. Remaking the Auto Industry \ Levi Tillemann Chapter 8. The Dark Horse: Will China Win the Electric, Automated, Shared Mobility Race? \ Michael J. Dunne
Epilogue: Pooling Is the Answer Notes About the Contributors Index
"As Executive Director of the Transportation Research Board, I have an appreciation of the depth and quality of policy analysis and research that Dan Sperling and the other coauthors of Three Revolutions have contributed to this issue. They have clearly articulated and analyzed the choices we have in front of us and assessed the potential positive or negative consequences that might occur based on the policy choices that get made, or not made. These choices can make the difference between whether we have a safer, more sustainable, healthier, more livable, more equitable, and more economically viable future, or one where we are lamenting the negative consequences of the technological changes that have occurred. Three Revolutions gives us the insights needed to help make the wise policy choices."
