LIFECar and Movement Modules and Open Source Car, oh my!

Sir John Whitmore looks at transportation, in his own words, "unconventionally". He writes that transportation planners should look at sustainable technologies (i.e., trains, hovercraft, etc.) where transport systems, once established, can literally run forever being limited only by revenue (such as fees) and location (pick up depots). He suggests movement modules (i.e., cars) be cheap, reliable, and leased and powered by fuel cells power recharged by electric motors at each wheel. Finally, he recommends all research aimed to provide such technologies to be available freely to every researcher to browse and contribute, in other words the Open Source Car.
Pipe dream or possible view of future transportation?

[Source: Auto Industry, picture by Rob Judges]