Looking for ideas for the future of transportation design. I grope, not in the dark but in the depths of transportation history. Into the very elements which define the need for transportation.
Mass transportation, which enhances businesses, fosters growth in the economy; and then come personal modes- transportation which makes personal mobility a breeze, vehicles and transportation systems designed so that each individual looks forward to using it.
Motion gives joy. And cars are an expression of this joy. Cars have been the focus of automotive design.
Cars are an expression of the individual taste, I know that all the people in the world are different from each other and the industry cannot afford to produce cars matching the taste of each and every person. Cars are an expression of freedom; freedom of movement. At the crack of the fifties, they represented both freedom and power. But then both could not go hand in hand as they lead to exploitation. Because of the air poisoning that they were causing on earth and the depletion of precious fuel, traffic congestion with so many people wanting to express their feelings through their cars; and a whole hoard of problems that burdened most of the lands, especially the cities. Almost all the industries have always got affected whenever there had been a setback in the economic arena. It is perceived that until these economic setbacks, the automobile industry was at its peak. Yes it always was. But these economic setbacks are the driving factor for fostering new design concepts, newer engineering solutions for the newer problems that keep raising their ugly head. After surviving many blows, now it has come to the limit that cannot be exceeded- the death of the I.C. Engine.
