Technology hits the road with cars that surf the Net and give directions.
Tateuchi wants more people to take electric cars as serious as he does. Tateuchi Tadashi, a successful Japanese race car designer and mechanic, was once a disciple of the internal combustion engine. That was before one day in 1994, when he decided to walk from his home in Tokyo to his work at the Suzuka race track. The journey, normally a two-hour drive along Japan's Route 1, took Tateuchi two weeks to complete. During that time spent breathing automobile exhaust, Tateuchi began to think there had to be a better way to get around.