Photo by jasonEscapist on Flickr.

Honda just released a series of short films, including one entitled Mobility 2088, in which Honda engineers, urban planners and others predict how we will travel in 80 years.

It’s structured as a “feel-good” piece, but it’s great to see Honda thinking out of the box a bit. Though, as you’d expect, it almost entirely ignores any sort of efficient, communal transportation option.

It begins with “urban designer” Mitchell Joachim stating that, above all other transportation, he “privileges … the foot.” After such Jetson concepts as jet-packs and flying cars, the movie transitions to discussing a future without the use of fossil fuels.

My ears pricked up when several of the subjects started discussing the future of cities and how cars presently spend most of their time sitting still, parked. One person lamented how unfortunate it is that it’s virtually impossible to travel these days without a car. But after announcing this, the film didn’t predict cities becoming more walkable. Instead, it proposed making cars more like home. Drivers can then take their lives with them as they go behind the wheel. Another idea from the film was automated “car trains”. These are both far more complicated “solutions” than just building at higher densities with good sidewalks.

All in all, though, even if it’s a marketing exercise akin to Chevron’s recent (and far more patronizing) “Will You Join Us?” campaign, it’s still refreshing to hear a car manufacturer veer into non-car mobility territory in a way it would never have 20 years ago.

Joey Katzen is an entrepreneur and attorney who previously lived in Arlington, Virginia.  A native of the Commonwealth, he hopes our public and private sectors can work together to continue transforming each of our neighborhoods into attractive places we can be proud of.