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"We follow the scientists around and look over their shoulders. They're watching their feet: provable mistakes are bad for them. We're looking as far ahead as we can, and we don't get penalized for mistakes."
- Larry Niven
 |
| Auto-Navigation | ||
| Automatic car navigation, provided on a video console in the dashboard. |
This is a very early instance of the idea of having a navigation screen in the middle of your dashboard that shows your current location, and which allows you to enter the coordinates of your desired destination.
| …he lighted his destination screen and turned the knob that shifted the broadcast map. Left to right, top to bottom, section to section he shifted it, until he located the portion of Carnegi Avenue he desired. He punched out its coordinates and lowered the wheel. |
| Technovelgy from The Dream Master (He Who Shapes),
by Roger Zelazny. Published by Ace Books in 1966 Additional resources -
|
Compare this idea with the Camden Speedster from Methuselah's Children, a 1941 novel by Robert Heinlein. The Speedster can drive itself, but you can't actually set a destination.
Here's a picture of my very own auto-navigation system, on my Toyota Camry hybrid:
Now, if somebody would just come out with a system that lets the car drive itself to the destination, that would be great.
Hey, what do you know, there's the Google's autonomous self-driving car.
Compare to the locatimeter from The Iron World by Otis Adelbert Kline.
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More Ideas
and Technology from The Dream Master (He Who Shapes)
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and Technology by Roger Zelazny
Tech news articles related to The Dream Master (He Who Shapes)
Tech news articles related to works by Roger Zelazny
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