TECHNOLOGIES SUPPORTIVE OF SUSTAINABLE TRANSPORTATION

Meeting the growing demand for personal mobility and transport of goods in a sustainable way presents a wide range of interrelated engineering and public policy challenges. This chapter reviews some of the technical options being developed for mitigating the local and global environmental impact of road vehicles, made possible using developments in the materials and combustion sciences, sensor technologies, catalysis, and information processing. Although the improved technical performance of these options can be quantified, the likelihood of commercial success is harder to predict. This review considers factors that may support the adoption of innovative vehicle technologies, recognizing that the ubiquity of existing solutions and infrastructures will make any change process complex.