Open Source for Advanced Vehicles?

January 26, 2003 – Vol.7 No.44

OPEN SOURCE FOR ADVANCED VEHICLES?

The inevitable inquiry into the tragic explosion and disintegration of the space shuttle Columbia and death of her crew may be the perfect opportunity to begin to ask some hard questions about technologies that we take for granted (as we did with the Space Shuttle) as well as those we might rely on in the future.

For example, why do we continue to use technologies long after they are obsolete or when better technologies might be available? Why aren’t we willing to back away from technologies that may never be successful no matter how much is invested? Do we do this out of pride, or is it economics, profits or politics?

But further, do we really have the best and brightest ideas for new technologies or solving problems with the old? Are there people outside of corporate, university and government laboratories that might have solutions to problems that those labs can’t come up with? If so why don’t we learn how to tap those creative resources?

These questions, and many others like them, are as appropriate to technology for travel into space as they are to technology for travel to the supermarket.

President Bush in his State of the Union address proposed a $1.2 billion initiative for further research into hydrogen fuel technologies and the building of infrastructure needed for fuel cell vehicles and fuel cell power plants for home and business. The proposal would create the FreedomFUEL initiative which would work alongside the current FreedomCAR program which encompasses a range of advanced vehicle technologies.

Together the programs would require $1.7 billion over five years. Only $273 million in spending is requested for both programs in the fiscal 2004 budget, however.

But, in the same tone as the questions above, is spending more money on research the only way to advance fuel cell technology? Is there a better, faster way to bring fuel cells - or any other new vehicle technology for that matter - into the world’s automotive showrooms?

An alternative to the continued spending of huge sums of money could be to take a song from the playbook of computer development and use the Open Source method of development to further fuel cell and other advanced automobile research.

In the same way that the Linux computer operating system continues its Open Source development as it becomes a competitor to the Windows operating system, fuel cell research could be accessed and contributed to by anyone on the planet who wishes to do so. As with Open Source computer software development, ordinary people, companies, universities could contribute knowledge or data to an advanced vehicle program with one common goal - to develop an alternative to current and conventional vehicle technology that could be used worldwide for the benefit of all. The good will and creative genius of people around the world could build a better automobile, not just rely on ideas generated in corporate meeting rooms. Open source-style development would bring new, fresh ideas to research organizations and manufacturers that weren’t available before.

For those skeptical about private investment under Open Source, company profits, and thus the enticement to invest in the technologies, would come from companies most capable and willing to bring advanced vehicle products to the marketplace.

And for a nation that has seen its credibility lapse, and has now seen its technological superiority damaged, a new, open willingness to replace the automobile as we know it would go far to heal the nation’s wounds and win back friends we may have lost beyond our shores.

Visit the FreedomFuel Hydrogen Fuel Initiative at http://www.eren.doe.gov/freedomfuel/