If you live in Boston, Chicago, New York, Portland, OR, San Francisco, Seattle, Chapel Hill or Washington, DC, you probably already know about Zipcar.

According to the Zipcar website:

In the fall of 1999, our two Zipcar founders were sitting in a caf�, excited about a concept they had seen in Berlin while on vacation. Cars were parked around the city for members to drive by the hour instead of owning their own vehicles. They had a Eureka! moment (or maybe it was more like, "Duh! What an obvious idea.") They put an American spin on it - outfitting the cars with wireless technology, creating a hassle-free reservation system and strategically placing the cars around key cities and neighborhoods. In June of 2000 the first Zipcars were on the road. The masses could now drive cars by the hour or day - on their terms.

Is this the future of automotive transportation? Perhaps, at least in urban centers. It sure makes a lot of sense -- you just have to let go of the concept of ownership, and join the masses.

Hey, wait, that sounds positively un-American.

It'll never work.