Hi folks -- I started looking at the history of self driving cars yesterday. And it is a complex history going back to the 1920s when the first self driving cars were radio controlled. Of course, those early efforts were really remote controlled by an operator following the vehicle. And as it turns out some of that technology goes back to developments that took place in the early 1920s at Wright-Patterson Air Force Base (then McCook Field). The technology had its early roots, then, with the evolution of the aviation autopilot.
So much of more recent developments have a connection with DARPA and national defense initiatives. It is the idea of a robot car, a driverless car that one would employ on the battlefield. My big question related to the autonomous car is this: what would keep terrorists from using them to pilot car bombs? Maybe this is all obvious to those involved in the development of the technology, but since I am a slow learner, I just thought of this and wonder.
This blog will expand on themes and topics first mentioned in my book, "The Automobile and American Life." I hope to comment on recent developments in the automobile industry, reviews of my readings on the history of the automobile, drafts of my new work, contributions from friends, descriptions of the museums and car shows I attend and anything else relevant. Copyright 2009-2020, by the author.
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