The Future of Personal Transport in China: Summary of a Symposium, January 12, 2001

In August 1999 a delegation from the Chinese Academy of Engineering (CAE) visited The National Academies in Washington to discuss opportunities for collaboration on a study of the future of personal use vehicles in China. Barely motorized at present, China is confronted with the prospect of a massive increase in demand for automobiles. This is a summary of the first meeting of the Committee on the Future of Personal Use Vehicles in China, where the committee invited a group of experts to join some members of the committee to review the issues surrounding rapid motorization in China and the world experience in confronting similar problems in other countries. This symposium was designed to serve as the initial technical presentation to the committee and enabled some of the more difficult issues to be introduced by non-member experts in a setting outside of the committee room where they would be debated.