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"The SF approach: an awareness that things could have been different, that this is one of many possible worlds, that if you came to this world from some other planet, this would be a science fiction world."
- Neal Stephenson
 |
| Automatic Control Car | ||
| An autonomous vehicle. |
Not the earliest description, but there are lots of imaginative details here from Clarke.
| As the beautiful old car cruised in almost perfect silence under the guidance of it's automatic controls, Duncan tried to see something of the terrain through which she was passing. The spaceport was 50 km from the city - no one had yet invented a noiseless rocket - and the four-lane highway bore a surprising amount of traffic. Duncan could count at least 20 vehicles of different types and even though they were all moving in the same direction, the spectacle was somewhat alarming.
"I hope all those other cars are on automatic," he said anxiously. Washington looked a little shocked. "Of course," he said. "It's been a criminal offense for at least a hundred years to drive manually on a public highway. But we still have occasional psychopaths to kill themselves and other people..." The big car was slowing down, it's computer brain sensing an exit ahead. Presently it peeled off from the parkway, then speeded up again along a narrow road whose surface rapidly disintegrated into a barely visible grass-covered track. Washington took the steering lever just a second before the END AUTO warning started to flash on the control panel. |
| Technovelgy from Imperial Earth,
by Arthur C. Clarke. Published by Harcourt Brace in 1976 Additional resources -
|
Autonomous car engineers might also appreciate this last bit:
Compare to the automatic automobile from David H. Keller's 1935 story The Living Machine and the Camden Speedster from Robert Heinlein's serialized 1941 novel Methuselah's Children.
A little later, the car turned into a driveway which letter beautifully kept ones. There was a gentle beeping from the control panel, and a sign flashed from beneath the steering handle: SWITCH TO MANUAL.
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Additional
resources:
More Ideas
and Technology from Imperial Earth
More Ideas
and Technology by Arthur C. Clarke
Tech news articles related to Imperial Earth
Tech news articles related to works by Arthur C. Clarke
Automatic Control Car-related
news articles:
- Tesla Promises Fully Autonomous Cars By 2018
- Tesla's New Autopilot, With Test Drive Video
- Tesla Autopilot Road Trip 2995 Miles, 57 Hours
- Fully Autonomous Vehicles In 2 Years - Musk
- Autonomous Cars In Snow? Ford, University Of Michigan Say Yes!
- Chris Brewer Speaks at Michigan Robotics
- China Bans Self-Driving Car Testing
- Amazing Tesla Autopilot Video
- Yandex Self-Driving Taxi Is Very Smooth
- The Details Of Tesla’s FSD Full Self-Driving
| Engineer Creates Crazy Motorized Track Hospital Bed |
| Xiaomi Self-Driving Self-Balancing Scooter |
| AV-STEP To Permit Sale Of Vehicles Without Steering Wheels Or Pedals |
| 'Robovan' Name Already Taken - Elon, Try These |
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'...Anything was possible in my imaginary environment.'
'Somewhere in space, a chrome and blue automobile raced the green light of Earth.'
'That explains how it was so easy for me to remain motionless in midair...'
'We had discovered that metal was relatively impervious to the telepathic effect.'
'Detailed plans for the construction of the Gundstetter-Halone warp drive were flowing.'
'Do not waste your priceless company on the unappreciative folds of a sleep pod...'
'...so we've promised him a generous pension from the royalties.'
'Hocus-pocus religions and archaic weapons are no substitute for a good blaster at your side.'
