What will you be driving in 10 years?

Perhaps a diesel hybrid, fuel cell or industrial-sized popcorn popper

This year, Paris played host to the eighth annual Michelin Challenge Bibendum, a gathering of auto manufacturers, researchers, inventors, and free thinkers from all over the globe to explore the idea of “Sustainable Mobility.” In other words, how can humans transport themselves in an earth-friendly fashion as the oil supply slows to a trickle?

But as I was standing on the Champ de Mars in the shadow of the Eiffel Tower, the most important thing on my mind was finding a way to escape the sweltering June heat. Appropriately enough, help arrived in the form of an air-conditioned Saturn VUE hybrid that was being displayed at the Challenge.

I introduced myself to the driver, Steven Tarnowsky, who it turns out is the assistant chief engineer for Saturn’s Green Line hybrid VUE. Within minutes I was cooling off in the front seat as I agreed to accompany Tarnowsky on the 60 kilometer (38 mile) drive to the CERAM (Montefontaine Automobile Test & Research Center) test track. Thankfully, he did turn-by-turn navigation during the leg of the rally. By the way, the 2007 Green Line gets 30 miles per gallon plus on the highway and costs about $23,000, making it the least expensive, highest-mileage, compact hybrid SUV.

However, because of heavy Parisian traffic, what should have taken only one hour dragged into two. I had plenty of time to think about the vehicles and trends I had observed over the past two days of the Challenge Bibendum. It’s impossible to predict what we will be driving in the future, perhaps it will be a hybrid, a clean diesel, a fuel cell, or something we have yet to discover. One thing is for certain, though, the next 10 years to 15 years will change what we drive more dramatically than anything we have experienced during the past 50 years of automotive history.

Business Week