Driving is a fact of modern life, but concerns about the environment and the uncertainty of future oil stocks have raised the question of whether cars will have a place in the future. The automobile has gone from symbolising individual freedom and the American dream fifty years ago to being associated with pollution and urban gridlock today, and many critics look forward to seeing it consigned to history like the horse and cart before it. But can technological innovation give cars a future?

Technologies like automated highway systems, driverless cars and vehicles powered by alternative fuels have been feasible for some time, but have not yet been implemented at scale. In the late 19th and early 20th century, long before concerns about carbon emissions, electric cars were considered to have advantages like being easier to drive (no gear changes) and less vibration, noise and smell. But the short range afforded by batteries and the low price of oil seemed to conspire against the electric car. Today, however, the Tesla Roadster can travel 200 miles on a single charge, and at one quarter the cost of petrol-driven equivalents. Nonetheless, significant changes to infrastructure are required to bring these new cars to our roads en masse. We would need a network of charging and battery swap stations. Our energy infrastructure itself might have to be restructured to cope with the increased demand for electricity. Is there the money and willpower to make such sweeping changes?

More broadly, on top of concerns about congestion and worries about safety, changing cultural attitudes put the use of cars per se in question. Politicians make a virtue of cycling to work, while the media attack petrol-heads as selfish and irresponsible. Meanwhile local government schemes encourage us to walk not drive, join car pooling schemes, use energy-efficient public transport: anything but get in our cars. Will we stubbornly stick with gas-guzzlers until the oil runs out? Or should we give up on the freedoms and thrills that motoring has brought in favour of more ‘sustainable’ forms of transport? Or, alternatively, might innovation give us futuristic cars to fulfil the hopes once represented by our fine four-fendered friend?

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