I'm Elise Hugh with TED Talks Daily, and I'm recording this in Los Angeles, which is world-renowned for its car culture.

But no matter where you are in the world, spending so much time on roads, whether it's driving or parking, places astronomical costs on clean air and affordable housing opportunities.

At TED 2020, Ali Kashani shares a vision of the future to help stop vehicles from wasting

energy and space on the streets. He's the VP of special projects at Postmates, the food

delivery company. In his vision of the future, drivers won't

have to be the ones delivering your food. Food delivery is the thing that saves millennials

from starvation. By my calculations, Americans order over 20 million restaurant deliveries every single day.

Over half of these deliveries are actually within walking distance, but nine out of ten are delivered in cars.

So basically, we are moving a two-pound burrito in a two-ton car 20 million times a day.

The energy to bring you that burrito is actually bringing you a two-ton metal cage with heated seats.

Let's be honest. We are addicted to our cars.

Did you know that in America, for every car, there are four parking spots.

In some downtowns, over half of the real estate is for cars.

We have designed our cities around our cars because we drive, whether we're going

two miles or 200 miles, solo or with our whole family.

We get into the same SUV to go by coffee or a coffee table.

If we could free up some of these streets and parking lots,

we could build more housing, more social spaces, more parks.

But to do that, first, we need to rethink how we are using cars today.

In the city of the future, if you want to go five blocks, you summon a bike or a scooter.

If you're in a rush, a passenger would pick you up.

And if you need food, no need to have someone drive over.

...