Thanks to my friend and mentor Richard Katzev of Public Policy Research for a reminder about this interesting perspective on carsharing and other future transportation ideas. Robin Chase is one of the co-founders of Zipcar and has gone on to found GoLoco, a ride sharing service based on computer social networking. The talk was presented at the TED (Technology, Entertainment, Design) conference in March, 2007. I'm long overdue in sharing this.
I don't know anything about mesh networks that Robin talks about so enthusiasticly but the concept certainly sounds powerful. I worry that although mesh networks sounds like a great idea for transportation it may not get enough air because there are some other BIG players out there who will try to make a quick buck with proprietary systems. An example is a silly demonstration of wi-max on Segways at the Mobile World Congress 2008
There are a wealth of interesting videos on all sorts of topics on the TED website. Some are, admittedly, a little breathless or silly, but life's like that. If you're having trouble seeing the video in this article, click here.
