Session Convener - Ronald Smith
Sector Vice President, Six Sigma
Northrop Grumman Space Technology

Session Facilitator - Mohammad Noori
Dean, Cal Poly College of Engineering

Session Recorder - Amy Hewes
Director of Publications and Communications
Cal Poly College of Engineering

Session Objective
Explore new technologies and organizing systems that may emerge in the post petroleum era of transportation, with specific focus on the California setting. Address implications for public and personal travel modes, urban form, transportation finance, environmental impacts, and business opportunities. Identify related needs for new curricula and opportunities for expanded student-faculty-industry collaboration on transportation problems that are suited to a predominantly undergraduate polytechnic university.

Session Questions

1. Re: engine/fuel technologies for personal vehicles for the next 50 years

What market shares would the panel envision over time for petroleum-fueled internal combustion engines, alternative-fueled IC or other combustion technologies, hybrids, fuel cells, batteries, other electric technologies . . . ? What key future technology breakthroughs, institutional changes, etc., are most important for determining those market shares?

2. What will be the net effect of alternate fuels, fuel cells, and various electricity-based propulsion systems on greenhouse gases and other pollutants. What are the corresponding opportunities for R&D and other innovations?

3. How will transportation funding methods evolve in the presence of new vehicle technologies (replacing the gas tax)?

4. What are the collaborative R&D and curriculum opportunities available to a university like Cal Poly?

5. What is envisioned re: the evolution of market shares for the next 50 years in engine/fuel technologies for large road vehicles (buses/trucks)? What factors are most likely to determine those market shares? What will urban collective transportation look like in 50+ years? What are the R&D and curriculum opportunities?

6. What are the R&D implications if California’s voters approve development of a high speed intercity rail (or maglev) system?

7. What are the technology and new product implications of implementing automated highways in California (after 20+, 30+, 50+ years)? What university-industry R&D collaborations might be created?

8. What, if any, organizational changes might improve the ability of a university like Cal Poly to develop suitable curricula and project-based learning capacity to contribute to emerging technologies and other innovations required for a sustainable future transportation system?