Howard's Ted Write up

Getting cars off the road and data into the skies

By

Robin Chase

http://www.ted.com/index.php/talks/robin_chase_on_zipcar_and_her_next_big_idea.html

Robin Chase, the founder of Zipcar presented a great proposition on. Reducing CO2, Road Congestion, cost of technology, reductions in car ownership cost etc. Her propositions included using available public (buses etc.) transportation and private devices such as portable wireless devices to form wireless mesh networks for inter state communication.

Some of the benefits that she proposed are:
• Reduced congestions.
• Reduced CO2 emissions
• Reduce driving cost
• Low communications cost.

These benefits can be achieved through congestion pricing, and a Wireless Interstate Mesh System to enable the communication. The economies of scale that can be realized from this proposition are:

• Greater utility of the transportation systems
• Just in time public transportation lookup and ticket purchasing.
• Increased social interaction through a carpooling system.
• Reduction in the mileage driven per year

Robin stressed that we should not wait. This needs to happen now and the Federal Government needs to get involved sooner than later.