The Automobile of the Future – Options for Efficient Individual Mobility

Individual mobility is closely linked to the welfare of any society. Not surprisingly, the number of automobiles has been inexorably increasing and is likely to double over the next twenty to thirty years. Clearly, this development creates many benefits and economic opportunities, but also many problems, such as air pollu-tion, traffic fatalities, increased energy consumption and carbon dioxide emission.

In this talk the relevance of these problems will be prioritized and some of the most likely technological solutions will be presented. One key point is that in most – if not all – of these approaches automatic control systems will be an enabling factor, without which no true breakthroughs are possible.

Lino Guzzella has been a full professor at ETH Zurich, Switzerland since 1999. After receiving his mechanical engineering diploma in 1981 and his doctoral de-gree in 1986, both from ETH, he has held several positions in industry and academia.

Lino Guzzella has published more than 100 research articles in peer refereed journals and conferences as well as two research textbooks (Introduction to Modeling and Control of IC Engine Systems, Springer Verlag, 2004 and Vehicle Propulsion Systems – Modeling and Optimization, Springer Verlag, 2005 and 2nd ed. 2007). He has been a keynote speaker at many conferences worldwide.

Prof. Guzzella is associate editor of the IFAC Control Engineering Practice Jour-nal and was associate editor of several other journals. Prof. Guzzella is member of the Swiss Academy of Engineering Sciences (SATW) and of several interna-tional and national research committees, e.g. the Swiss CTI Committee on Engi-neering Sciences and member of the board of governors of IFAC. He is a con-sultant to several automotive companies and holds several patents in that area.