Can industry-government partnerships produce the next generation vehicles?

Government regulators and automotive executives both recognise the downside of adversarial relationships. The result has been a series of efforts in the USA to form partnerships and joint agreements to accelerate the development of leapfrog technology, and thereby to obviate the need for technology-forcing regulations. The most prominent of these efforts, and the focus of this paper, is the Partnership for a New Generation of Vehicles. In this paper, the political, economic, and environmental effectiveness of this partnership are evaluated - from the perspective of automakers, regulators, and the public interest - and recommendations made to enhance its effectiveness. For the covering abstract see ITRD E116488.