Since in my last column I criticized the folks at Google for being short-sighted in their thinking about how to improve transportation, I want to post an update. In “Hybrid car pitch a step backwards,” I implied that the software giant known for creative thinking is selling itself (and us) short by encouraging the development of new plug-in hybrid automobiles. Hybrids, in my opinion, will not only keep us dependent on gasoline longer (by stretching the fuel supply), but keep us dependent on an automobile-based transportation model whose dangerous side-effects (if you can call 40,000 deaths per year side-effects) are not being factored into the race to answer the challenges of climate change.
Fortunately, the hybrid-development contest is not all Google has up its sleeve. Innovate or Die, a contest sponsored by bicycle manufacturer Specialized and Google, is soliciting entries from inventors working on how to improve human-powered vehicles, or transit. The language of the contest organizers clearly suggests an understanding that transit will play a significant role in adapting traffic for a sustainable future.
Hopefully George Bliss or some equally creative unknown inventor will get involve, unveiling the next amazing thing in human-powered movement. Segways need not apply.
