The film

STORY

Consider Life on Wheels as a call to action. A moment to reflect on the dream of a century – its promises, its outcomes, and its potential for meaningful change.

The reality today is stark. An immense loss of life, health, and safety plagues our roads. An endless drain on wealth, time, and energy constrains our cities. And environmental hazards continue to threaten our very future.

Fortunately, another dream is beginning to emerge. It’s a story of cities designed for people — not cars. It’s driven through actual solutions, by people with the vision to create real change. Life on Wheels follows these heroes and looks ahead to a future where people everywhere are free to choose the ways they move. Villagers (all of us) around the world are creating new ways of getting from here to there that result in fresher air, healthier communities, and safer streets. Wise leaders are listening and supporting the quest. Even the automobile itself can be reimagined and reshaped as part of a broader network that better serves the needs of human beings and the planet.

Our film brings together disparate voices in a fresh, coherent conversation. Telling the story through the eyes of real problem-solvers, we paint pictures of potential futures based on new social movements and lifestyle trends, emerging technologies, and new business models. We depict an entire industry and infrastructure on the brink of fundamental change. As businesses, citizens, and policymakers make decisions that will shape our movements for the decades to come, the voices in this film offer vital new perspectives. It’s an urgent conversation with complex consequences. Life on Wheels captures some of the ideas that will hopefully guide the change. 

Narrative outline

Expert interviewees

Hans Arby Ubigo
Chris Borroni-Bird Afreecar
Dave Brook Car sharing consultant Team Red
Lawrence Burns Former GM VP of research and development and strategic planning
Peter Calthorpe Architect, urban designer and urban planner.
Emily Castor Warren Senior Director of Transportation Policy, Lyft
Robin Chase Zip car founder
Steven Chu 12th United States Secretary of Energy from 2009 to 2013. Nobel recipient Physics
Ignasi Cubina Eco intelligent Growth - Barcelona
Lewis DeSoto  Artist
Keith W. Dierkx Global Industry Leader, Rail IBM
Steve Diller CEO Scansion
Amanda Eaken  Deputy Director, Natural Resources Defense Council
Martin Eberhard Co founder of Tesla Motors
Eve Edelstein Dir. Human Experience Lab, Perkins + Will
John Edson  President of Lunar Design
Catharina Elmsäter-Svärd Chairwoman Drive Sweden
Sharon Feigon Founder - iGo, non-profit carshare Now part of Enterprise Car Rental.
Marc Fenigestein -Co-founder BRD Motorcycles
Rob Forbes Founder, Design Within Reach, CEO, PUBLIC Bicycles
William Clay Ford Jr. Executive Chairman of Ford Motor Company
Dan Formosa  Co-Counder SMART Design
Guy Fraker Trends in new mobility
Matilda Gennvi Gustafsson IoT Sustainability Director, Ericsson
Paul Godsmark CTO - Canadian Automated Vehicles Center of Excellence
Micheal Green  CEO, Center for Enviromental Health
Bern Grush Grush Niles Strategic
Paul Hawken  Author, Environmentalist
Jan Hellåker  Program director, Drive Sweden
Daniel Hill Director of Strategic Design, Vinnova
Caroline Hjelm  CMO, Voi
Kerri Holley IBM Fellow, IBM Corporation
Alan Hoffman Urban planner
Lewis Horne CEO, Founder - Uniti Electric Car
Tim Huntzinger Art Center's graduate transportation design program - Recent graduate
Rick Hutchinson CEO City Carshare
Darja Isaksson General Director, Vinnova
Mark Z. Jacobson Professor of Earth Sciences, Stanford
Caroline Jones Carrick Tev project
Prasad Kaipa, Ph.D Kaipa Group
Nishit Kamath Art Center's graduate transportation design program - Recent graduate
Peter Katz New Urbanist
Gabe Klein Former Chicago Transportation Commissioner
Thilo Koslowski VP and Practice Leader, Automotive, Car, ICT, Mobility, Gartner
Maria Krafft  Director for Sustainability and Traffic Safety, Swedish Transportation Administration
Marcel Kroeze Director for Scania Sustainable City Solutions
Wee Shann Lam CTO, LAND TRANSPORT AUTHORITY, SINGAPORE
David Day Lee Art Center's graduate transportation design program - Recent graduate
Paul Lewis  Eno Center for Transportation
Magnus Lindkvist Trends and Futurology
David Lindelöv PhD in Traffic planning, Sweco
Martha Loleit Head of Competence Center Sustainable Mobility Concept, Fraunhofer Institute for Industrial Engineering IAO

Joel Makower Strategist on sustainable business, clean technology
Paolo Malabuyo VP Advanced User Experience Mercedes-Benz R&D North America
Dr. Mario Molina Nobel Laureate - Chemistry
John Niles Grush Niles Strategic
Scott Nisbet  US West Capital
Mark Notash MD - Emergency Medical doctor
Timothy Papandreou Former Deputy Director, Strategic Planning & Policy, SF Municipal Transportation Agency
Serge Passolunghi Director Renault Innovation
Sunil Paul CEO of Side car
Marco Pavone Department of Aeronautics and Astronautics Stanford University
Enrique Penalosa  Mayor of Bogotá
Raul David Poblano Art Center's graduate transportation design program - Recent graduate
Ryan Popple  CEO Proterra
Johan von Porat  Ubigo
Ezra Rapport Executive Director, Association of Bay Area Governments
Alexander Rieck Co founder of Laboratory For Visionary Architecture LAVA
Salvador Rueda Director of BCNecologia
Meg Ruxton Charge Across Town - Partnerships manager
Ryan Rzepecki FOUNDER / CEO - JUMP
MANUEL SAEZ - FOUNDER / CEO- BROOKLYNESS
Paul Saffo Futurist
Joshua L. Schank Chief Innovation Officer for the Los Angeles County Metro
Dr. Bodo Schwieer Managing Director Team Red
Robert Scoble Futurist
Richard Sears Consulting Professor, Department of Energy Resources Engineering Stanford.
Susan Shaheen Co-Director transportation Sustainability Research Center. University of CA, Berkeley Institute of Transportation Studies
Peter Shannon Levitate - VC
Walter (Wally) Siembab South Bay Cities - Research Director
Russell Singer Art Center- student
Richard Steinberg CEO, of BMW's DriveNow
Danny Stillion Partner, Executive Design Director IDEO
Kirk Strassman VP Parking & Mobility Solutions - Xerox
Dan Sturges  Advocate for a new car future
Ajantha Suriyanarayanan Behavioral Researcher
Christopher C. Swan Author
Brad Templeton Software architect, internet entrepreneur, futurist lecturer
Clara Terrien Renault Innovation Silicon Valley
Gerry Tierney Associate Principal, Perkins + Will
Shin-pei Tsay Gehl Institute, Executive Director
Jeffrey Tumlin Principal, Nelson Nygaard
Dr. Peter Van Deventer Director and Diplomatic Liaison Consulate General of The Netherlands
Geoff Wardle Executive Director, Graduate Transportation Design, Art Center College of Design
Gerhard Wennerström CEO samtrafiken
Jennifer Wilcox Professor of Earth Sciences, Stanford
Susan Zielinski  Managing Director, Sustainable Mobility & Access Research & Transformation. University of Michigan - Transportation Research Institute
Ken Zita Network Dynamics Associates - Technology strategy, policy and investment advisor