...motornormativity: a term coined by psychologist Ian Walker to describe the way our societies assume that cars are normal and everything else is an exception. Motornormativity is a British phrase for an American idea which, for much of the 20th century, spread across the world. But recently, parts of Europe have started to push back.
The trouble is, even as some places learn the lessons, the future is still being written in the one place that never did. America is still where most of the money, power and innovation sits. And that means the future is being built through a very specific cultural lens: one that remains deeply, instinctively car-first. This post describes just some of the ways in which American motornormativity is shaping all our worlds.
1. Startup funding
If you want to understand what the future will look like, look at where the venture capital goes. Uber raised over $25 billion, much of it petrocash from the Saudi Public Investment Fund. Waymo, Google's self-driving car arm, has had more than $5 billion. And then there’s Tesla, Rivian, Cruise, Nuro, Aurora... the list of car-focused startups is long, and extremely well-funded.
Now compare that with public transport. There’s only one unicorn (a startup worth over $1 billion): Optibus, which builds scheduling software for buses. It’s raised $260 million. That’s not nothing: it’s a brilliant achievement, and I take my hat off to Amos Haggiag, its founder, for what he’s made happen. But balanced against the investments in cars, it’s a rounding error.
