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Google Should Name Roads After Science Fiction Authors
Google has been working hard on making autonomous cars a reality. Now, they've leased a large part of the former Castle Air Force Base, and have built a testing environment.
(Google names roads after movie characters)
As you can see, they've named the roads after famous movie characters and cars.
I think that they should have remembered some of the great science fiction authors who have propounded, and then expanded on, the idea of an autonomous vehicle.
Update: 08-Feb-2024: I've found an earlier reference for a autonomous self-driving car in Paradise and Iron by Miles J. Breuer, published by Amazing Stories Quarterly in 1930.
I climbed in and sat down, with a queer feeling at the complete absence of the steering wheel and gear-shift levers. However, on the dashboard were a great many dials; and something was ticking quietly somewhere inside the machine.Then there was a “clickety-click” and a whirr of the motor, and the car moved gently away from the curb.
End update.
In 1935, David H. Keller described a driverless car in his short story The Living Machine.
In 1941, Robert Heinlein wrote about the autonomous highway vehicle, the Camden speedster in his novel Methuselah's Children.
In 1951, Heinlein made use of the autocab in one of his juvenile novels Between Planets.
In 1965, Philip K. Dick described an autonomic cab in his classic The Three Stigmata of Palmer Eldritch.
In 1976, Larry Niven came pretty close with his bubble car from A World Out Of Time.
In 1976, Arthur C. Clarke wrote in detail about an automatic control car in his excellent Imperial Earth.
In 2006, Alan Dean Foster wrote about an automated taxi in his excellent novel Sagramanda.
Note: This list does not include references to vehicles that are driven by robots, as opposed to vehicles which are by themselves autonomous, nor does it include autonomous flying vehicles. I've also skipped movie and TV references - so I'll just leave this here for fans of KITT ;-)
(KITT flashes LED grille)
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Technovelgy (that's tech-novel-gee!) is devoted to the creative science inventions and ideas of sf authors. Look for the Invention Category that interests you, the Glossary, the Invention Timeline, or see what's New.
Science Fiction
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