Theodore E. Cohn

Roads, bridges, gasoline, internal combustion engines, and automatic transmissions were singular advances on the way to modern automobiles. But, without goggles, the horseless carriage might have been slow to arrive. Dust in the eye was objectionable, debilitating, and dangerous at the new high speeds. Whatever access the automobile promised, a driver couldn’t enjoy it if blinded, even momentarily. Developments leading to modern transport systems have been a long series of accommodations to what our eyes can and can’t do. Because future developments must compensate for the limitations of human sight and take advantage of its capabilities, my laboratory has been examining various relations between vision and transportation. Here I’d like to tell about some of those relations.

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Daniel Sperling

In response to these opportunities, the Clinton administration has pointed to the EV as one of 22 critical technologies for the nation's economic revitalization. Battelle Technology Management Group, a private consulting firm, listed fuel cells, batteries, and hybrid vehicles as three of the ten hottest technologies for 2005. Because their principal advantages – improved air quality, reduced emissions of greenhouse gases, and energy savings – initially will be outside the marketplace, only strong government action can give EV technologies a chance in the near term. But public policy must be formulated carefully so that it is flexible enough to permit midcourse corrections and to let the market, rather than government, pick the winners.

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Thomas Turrentine

1998 will be a big year for both automakers and clean-air advocates. In less than three years, the seven largest car sellers in California must sell zero-emission vehicles (ZEHs)-2 percent of their sales of vehicles under 3750 lbs loaded weight. Given the size of the current market, that's about 20,000 vehicles and they most likely will be electric cars. By 2003, 10 percent must be zero-emitters. The crux is that the government requires consumers to buy them. The big manufacturers say electric cars cost too much to make and consumers won't choose them, even if prices were to match those of gasoline vehicles. The automakers have threatened to raise the price of gasoline vehicles to offset their losses. Much of the debate hinges on just how many Californians-or other car buyers throughout the world-will want an electric vehicle (EV).

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