The car was undoubtedly one of the most important products of the 20th century. But as the 21st century gathers pace, this incredible personal transportation device has become a victim of its own success, causing many cities to suffer increasingly unacceptable pollution levels and gridlock. The car industry is reinventing itself, but may not be part of the future transport solution at all

It was all going so well. The automobile - officially patented in 1886 by Karl Benz - became the great enabler of the 20th century via the mass-production manufacturing process of Henry Ford. Once the preserve of the global elite, and now better known as a car, it's become affordable to a large proportion of the human race, with China the most recent convert quickly becoming the world's biggest vehicle market, at about 20 million units bought a year.

Looking out from inside the now common, but still very 'worthy' Toyota Prius

But anyone who's visited Beijing on a bad day - and it has many - will know its pollution problem is tangible, its unsettling white fog blocking out the sun for days and leaving skin and eyes irritated. It's not all to do with vehicle traffic fumes - there are bundles of factories nearby and endless construction sites within the city significantly adding to the problem - but one of the issues Beijing and China faces is the low-grade fuel used to fill up too many old vehicles. Just under 10 per cent of China's vehicles are from the pre-China I fuel standard - the latest standard aimed for is Beijing V, similar to Euro V - but the China Daily says they account for 40 per cent of total vehicle emissions. When it gets really bad the city resorts to a ballot based on registration plates to decide who can enter the city by car.

The hydrogen powered Honda FCX Clarity

And China's cities are far from alone. London has suffered chronic traffic levels for decades and missed many related pollution-ceiling targets for years, turning to congestion charging and other restrictions to alleviate the city's lungs.

How the Honda FCX Clarity hydrogen fuel cell works to power the car

But arguably the car industry is starting to get its act together. All new cars bound for most global markets are obliged to meet ever-more stringent emission standards. Ten years ago few UK buyers knew their vehicle's carbon dioxide emissions. Now most do, as the grammes of the global warming-related gas emitted per kilogram (g/km) dictate numerous car taxes, and lower figures become selling points. Powertrains are being downsized from inefficient big petrol or diesel engines to smaller units with fewer cylinders and turbochargers for fuel economy rather than go-faster benefit. Hybrid cars - symbolised by the trailblazing Toyota Prius - are now common on UK roads, combining the range and power of internal combustion engines with the low-to-zero-emission tailpipe benefits of electric motors to offer cars that create little or no pollution inside the city while being frugal with the fuel they use outside of it (see page 153 for our drive in the 313mpg VW XL1 for further evidence).

The Toyota FV2 concept is accessed by a front-hinged canopy, has a heads-up display and movement is dictated not by a steering wheel, but by the driver shifting their body in the intended direction of travel

Fully electric vehicles (EVs), whose wheels are only powered by an electric motor using onboard battery power, might make better sense for those doing short commutes in and around the city, although they're still expensive and suffer a patchy charging network (in the UK especially). Concerns about how many miles EVs can travel before having to recharge - 80-100 miles is typical today - are countered by 'range-extender' versions such as the BMW i3 (also tested for this article) and the Vauxhall Ampera, both of which carry tiny petrol engines solely designed to top-up the battery pack to allow the electric motors to spin the car's wheels further.

Finally, there are hydrogen fuel cell vehicles. Honda has already produced a limited number of its FCX vehicles and the Hyundai Tuscon, a full production model, goes on lease, rather than sale, in the US this spring. These also employ electric motors to turn their wheels. The electricity is created using from a motor powered by hydrogen from an onboard tank. These can make journeys of a similar length to conventionally-powered cars (the Tuscon is claiming a range of 480km with a top speed of 160km/h) and the only tailpipe emission is a little heat and water vapour. Honda and Toyota are planning to commercialise fuel-cell vehicle manufacture in 2015 (by which time they all hope a global hydrogen fuelling infrastructure will be more advanced and the current high price of making the cars reduced). Most experts agree that if carmakers achieve sufficient cost savings, fuel-cell vehicles will be the best eco and practical solution for most people, with full-electric cars more prevalent in cities where less miles are travelled.

The Honda EV-N concept is not beautiful, but certainly innovative, incorporating a U3-X unicycle into the door for onward journeys where space is at a premium

Reducing harmful emissions is one side of the equation but fundamentally, where congestion is rife (and mega cities are only expected to increase in population size and number), fewer cars is a logical solution. One idea now being embraced by some more forward-thinking car makers is the idea of 'membership', not 'ownership'. In the past three years, numerous car-share schemes have developed alongside firms such as ZipCar, which employ apps that list locations where its latest vehicles can be hired by the minute and hour rather than days, taking an on-demand but non-ownership approach to vehicle hire, rather like Spotify does for music. Indeed, the app for BMW's new i3 even suggests an integrated transport approach involving parking the car and using a mixture of trains, buses and walking rather than assuming the driver will always drive. This is a mindset change for an industry that seemed to be in denial that other forms of transport existed, let alone that they could be preferable for certain journeys.

Examples from Volvo of how self-braking cars work by on-board computers sensing stationary vehicles as well as monitoring other factors such as moving pedestrians

And where cars can still work in cities many brands are looking at slimmer, differently shaped vehicles more seriously than ever. Renault launched the radical four-wheel, but super-narrow tandem electric car-cum-scooter in 2012, although an impractical lack of proper windows and optional-only doors has hampered its sales in colder and wetter locations. The Tokyo Motor Show - historically a hotbed of automotive innovation - has revealed numerous alternative transport concepts over the decades, like Honda's electric U3-X unicycle, originally envisaged to be unplugged from the interior of its 2009 EV-N concept car to enable the driver to travel onwards where four-wheeled vehicles were too wide. At the 2013 show, Honda revealed its enhanced Uni-Cub unicycle and was joined by the low-slung Toyota FV2, whose designers imagined a slimline pod accessed by a front-hinged canopy where movement is dictated not by a steering wheel but through the driver shifting their body intuitively in their intended direction of travel.

Examples from Volvo of how self-braking cars work by on-board computers sensing stationary vehicles as well as monitoring other factors such as moving pedestrians

This Toyota also 'talks' to nearby vehicles to avoid accidents, which is a very real near-term technology enabled through enhanced sensors. Indeed several production cars, notably from Volvo and Mercedes, will already brake on the driver's behalf in dangerous circumstances. The FV2 also puts forward the notion of developing an emotional relationship with the driver, like a rider and horse, by using voice and image recognition to ascertain driver mood before suggesting destinations and driving style. Augmented reality presents driver information on its windscreen and exterior body panels beam out a changing array of digital images - like an automotive screen saver - to add human warmth to the hi-tech. Still only a concept, it nonetheless points to a dramatically different future driving experience.

As many commentators have observed, the idea of cars avoiding accidents is best achieved in the long term by not allowing humans to drive at all, their potential for errors of judgement too huge and the consequent social costs too large (around 1.2 million global road deaths a year). Autonomously driven prototype cars have already proved their worth in various tests and competitions and non-traditional car makers like Google have joined traditional ones to tout their ability to sell perfectly workable driverless cars within 10-15 years if laws are changed to allow them. Then, as Michael Robinson, design director of independent design house Bertone, puts it: 'There would be a paradigm shift - zero traffic deaths. Thus design can change, as bumpers, pedals and steering wheels are no longer needed.' Robinson predicts such a scenario by 2050, with humans behind the wheel only for private track-day capers, a sentiment shared by Gert Hildebrand, ex-Mini design chief (now behind Chinese/ Israeli start-up car brand Qoros): 'Some 130 years ago there were no cars and I propose that in 100 years' time there will be no cars again - except perhaps as devices for just having fun.'

Safe journeys and fun on the track sounds good, freeing up road-going passengers to make their journey in low-to-no emission fully connected mobile lounges without risk, travelling in harmonious traffic regulated by all the vehicles within the stream, like fish in shoals.

Until that time there's still a lot of work to do, but at its best the auto industry is a genuinely creative global business (whose executives have kids and want them to have a future worth living I suspect), so perhaps one day London's congestion will really ease and Beijing's pollution lessen to reveal more blue skies. we're getting there in a way that didn't seem likely a decade ago, so in another decade or two who knows what progress will have been made? I'm staying positive about humanity's ability (and desire) to figure it out.

Driving the future

We take two of the most technically advanced and visually appealing eco-focused cars currently on sale - the diesel/ hybrid VW XL1 and electric BMW i3 - on the road

The DS meet's Battle star Galactica: VW XL1 is a diesel electric hybrid Photography: Peter Guenzell

The two-seat VW XL1 is the more extreme vehicle, offering 313mpg - unprecedented for a production car (see page 23)- by employing a raft of weight-saving techniques such as ultralightweight carbon fibre for the chassis, body panels and bucket seats, and magnesium wheels. The 795kg result is less than the current Lotus Elise (itself a paragon of lightness) but still has creature comforts like air conditioning.

Driving it in London, the most common response from passers-by was 'Is this some kind of concept car?' such are its futuristic looks - although its gloss-white aerodynamic shape with sloping roof and covered rear wheels has a little 'retro' mixed in, recalling the Fifties' Citroen DS plus a dash of late- Seventies' TV series Battlestar Galactica.

You may also notice an absence of drag-inducing wing mirrors, replaced by rear-facing cameras integrated into the exterior doors that relay images back to two interior video screens. Shown on many previous concept cars, these cameras now pass the necessary road-going legislation and should set a precedent for more streamlined, mirror-less cars in the future. The screens work well in identifying bicycles and buses, but reversing into poorly lit parking spaces is tricky. An extra central camera (or rear-facing floodlights) might help.

The VW Polo-sized car features a rear-mounted 0.8ltr diesel engine, which combines with an electric motor to offer 75hp, 21g/km CO2 and a near-silent 31-mile electric-only range, but when that dwindles, or when accelerating harder, the diesel assists in a contrastingly raucous way (because VW left out noise-cancelling insulation to keep weight down). The car's easy to manoeuvre, comfortable, has a 120ltr boot to carry a few bags, and even its supercar-style 'gull-wing' doors have good function. Hinged well into the ceiling, they create a higher aperture where conventional side-hinged doors on a car as low as the XL1 would cause real problems.

Electric from the ground up, the new BMW i3 was launched at the end of 2013 starting at £25,680 Photography Peter Guenzell

It's truly an amazing car, and amazing that VW decided to build it. Only 250 are initially scheduled for series production with a hefty price tag of about £100,000, and while a few hundred 'eco supercars' won't change the world, the project's importance lies in the application of its many ground-breaking technologies to affordable volume cars. As a case in point, VW showed the Twin-Up version of its already available Up city car at the 2013 Tokyo Motor Show with the XL1's diesel/electric power train inside. Still offering 257mpg, with four seats and more practicality, it could go on sale inside two years for about £17,000.

Less extreme but also less expensive than the XL1 (£25,680- £28,830) and intended as a volume premium model, the BMW i3 launches both a car and a new less speed-obsessed sub-brand for the traditionally go-faster German marque. Not that the full-electric i3 four-seater is slow. The instant acceleration from the 170hp electric motor is surprising (0-62mph takes only 7.2 seconds), and makes the i3 well able to keep up with bigger cars and their unsuspecting drivers. Barrelling into corners feels uncannily safe for such a narrow and high-sided vehicle and the steering is firm. There is a noticeable 'bite' to the brakes to boost energy regeneration, but it's easy to get used to. The only real difference with the Range Extender version is a slight extra noise when the tiny 650cc two-cylinder petrol engine is required to top up the battery, and to add the extra 80 miles over the regular EV's 100-mile range to give 180-odd miles to play with.

For city-based drivers who want a full EV but only need to make occasional longer journeys, BMW is offering a scheme from £40 a month where points can be swapped for preferential hire rates on bigger conventionally engined BMWs. Also employing a lightweight carbon-fibre body and many sustainable materials and manufacturing processes, plus smart phone apps to help manage off-peak charging and more, BMW has attempted to cover off all the concerns that have hampered EV sales thus far. Special mention must also be made of the cabin, which resembles an airy domestic modern interior more than a car. Featuring a curved wood dashboard and luxury leather seats, it feels like nothing else on the road. All round, this is a very special car that finally makes EV driving desirable and relatively affordable as well as merely worthy.