DETROIT: It has the chassis of a skateboard and a control system used by the Jetsons. And if it works, it would be the first major change in car design and manufacturing since the automobile was invented more than a century ago. General Motors on Monday unveiled the Autonomy, a snap together concept car fuelled by hydrogen cells and powered by small electric motors in each of its four wheels. The car has no pedals and no dashboard. Controls are on a computer stalk that allows the driver to sit in the left, centre or right hand seat.

Just like a computer, software allows the car to have a drive-by-wire control system, eliminating mechanical systems traditionally used to steer, power and brake the car. Without the mechanical systems you don’t need motor oil or brake and transmission fluid. GM President Richard Wagoner, introducing the car at the North American International Auto Show, said its radical new approach to design and manufacturing came from a single question that was raised a year ago: “If you were to invent the car today, what would you do?”

“We really feel we’re rewriting the rules of automobile design,” said Larry Burns, GM’s vice president of Research and Development and Planning. But Burns acknowledged it is still early in the process. “We’re in a marathon and we’re only five miles into the race,” he said.

The new design has significant hurdles to overcome before it can be sold to the public. First, automobile companies have to develop viable and low cost fuel cell systems, which currently cost far more than an internal combustion engine. In addition, an infrastructure to support hydrogen cars must be developed. An extensive system of service stations for refuelling hydrogen cars - similar to gasoline stations - has to be built throughout the country.

GM officials say they hope to develop a surge of demand - and an infrastructure - for hydrogen fuel cells, by convincing large institutions, such as hospitals, governments and bus systems, to adopt the technology. Stationary fuel cells could be used to heat and cool large buildings, they said. Fuel-cell systems use hydrogen and, through a chemical reaction, create electricity. In the GM model, the electricity is sent to the four motors in each wheel.

Major car companies around the world have been spending billions to develop fuel cells. GM, Chrysler and Ford have been working together under the Partnership for a New Generation of Vehicles, put together under the Clinton Administration, to encourage hydrogen fuel cells technology to improve the environment and lessen dependency on foreign oil. The only tailpipe emissions from hydrogen propulsion is water.

The Autonomy would accommodate customers’ changing tastes by allowing them to buy a basic chassis, the six-inch thick platform with the fuel cells and the wheels and electric motors, and then choose what kind of body they want. When they tire of one body style, they can go to the dealer and trade in the old body for a new one. “You could purchase body upgrades throughout the expected 20-year life of a chassis,” Burns said. You could go from a coupe to a sport utility vehicle, minivan or sedan on the same platform.

The new design eliminates the mechanical equipment that now fills the inside of a car, starting with the engine and including a fixed steering column, pedals for the brakes, clutch and accelerator, and the gearshift lever. All of these functions are directed by computer software controlled by the driver from a single control stalk rising up from the floor of the car. Much of the technology and design is from the aerospace industry. —Dawn/LAT-WP News Service (c) The Washington Post.