Playing scrabble while your car is driving itself on the Turnpike. As early as 1956 the Central Power and Light Company inserted this ‘inspired’ advertisement in leading US newspapers. Under the intriguing heading 'Electricity may be the driver', its text read: 'One day your car may speed along an electric super-highway, its speed and steering automatically controlled by electronic devices embedded in the road. Highways will be made safe – by electricity! No traffic jams ... no collisions ... no driver fatigue.'
Forget all of what you have considered major advancements in the development of the automobile: Ford’s assembly line, automatic transmissions, disc brakes, fuel injection, computerized fuel systems. By far the most important and far reaching automobile innovation since the very invention of the automobile is just taking form. ADAs (Autonomous-driving-automobiles) are not just around the corner but here, much to the delight of aging baby boomers who will never be immobile, and younger generations who will be able to play computer games and message text all while being driven automatically. Gijsbert-Paul Berk helps us understand where we’ve been, where we are going, and can we get there without the steering wheel and gas pedal.
Part 1
The well-known high-tech company and Internet search-site now intends to produce this urban ADA that even has no steering wheel. Legislators and managers in the car industry are skeptical about the feasibility of such a project in view of the high financial risk law suits over product liability. But Google is determined.