Name: The idea behind Zipcar (and what comes next)
Uploaded: 2008-01-31T03:23:00Z
Duration: 13 min 25 s
Description: Robin Chase founded Zipcar, the world’s biggest car-sharing business. That was one of her smaller ideas. Here she travels much farther, contemplating road-pricing schemes that will shake up our driving habits and a mesh network vast as the Interstate.

Robin Chase founded Zipcar, the world’s biggest car-sharing business. That was one of her smaller ideas. Here she travels much farther, contemplating road-pricing schemes that will shake up our driving habits and a mesh network vast as the Interstate.

The idea behind Zipcar (and what comes next)

Reducing CO2 emissions by 80 percent within fifteen years is essential to avoid catastrophic climate impacts, yet fuel-efficient cars alone would only cut fossil fuel use by four percent in a decade. Transformative change comes from pricing driving accurately and using wireless technologies like mesh networks, which can enable car sharing, smart ridesharing, and congestion pricing. In London, congestion pricing reduced traffic by 25 percent overnight and has lasted for years. Open, scalable wireless networks could power a new era of economic growth and cleaner transport worldwide.