We know traffic is bad in L.A. But could we really be responsible for one-fifth of all the congestion in the entire United States?

That's a claim made by Ford CEO Mark Fields at AutoMobility LA, a big conference on the future of automobiles and transportation. Fields also claimed that jammed traffic costs L.A. $23 billion a year.

On the brighter side, an amalgam of transportation and urban planners, techies and auto execs painted a future that offers some relief, as cars and the roads they drive on get smarter, and new alternatives to personal car ownership become more accessible.

Our motor critic Sue Carpenter attended the conference, which kicks off the roll up to the LA Auto Show.  It opens to the public this weekend.

Click on the blue bar above to listen to Sue's story.