These 2 Charts Tell You Everything About The Biggest Innovation In The Auto Industry

This chart comes from a recent report by Michael Sivak at the University of Michigan's Transport Research Institute.

Sivak is studying whether what he calls "motorization" — people driving cars — has peaked in the U.S.

As you can see, both miles driven per thousand dollars of GDP and gallons consumed per thousand dollars of GDP have plummeted since the 1970s.

What happened? Does this mean that the U.S. will continue to drive less and use less fuel to achieve GDP growth in the future? And what does that mean for the auto industry?