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"We're about 20 minutes away from the point where Clarke's law kicks in and technology becomes indistinguishable from magic."
- Peter Watts
 |
| Autonomous Truck | ||
| A truck that drives itself and unloads itself. |
| The truck was massive, rumbling under its tightly packed load. In many ways, it resembled conventional human-operated transportation vehicles, but with one exception -- there was no driver's cabin. The horizontal surface was a loading stage, and the part that would normally be the headlights and radiator grill was a fibrous spongelike mass of receptors, the limited sensory apparatus of this mobile utility extension.
Aware of the three men, the truck slowed to a halt, shifted gears and pulled on its emergency brake. A moment passed as relays moved into action; then a portion of the loading surface tilted and a cascade of heavy cartons spilled down onto the roadway. With the objects fluttered a detailed inventory sheet. The truck had begun to move away; abruptly it stopped and backed toward them. Its receptors had taken in the fact that the three men had demolished the dropped-off portion of the load. It spun in a grinding half circle and came around to face its receptor bank in their direction. Up went its antenna; it had begun communicating with the factory. Instructions were on the way. |
| From Autofac,
by Philip K. Dick. Published by Galaxy in 1955 Additional resources -
|
Here's a look at the illustration that accompanied the original story:
(Autonomous truck from Autofac)
Compare to the electrotruck from The Corkscrew of Space (1956) by Poul Anderson, the tractatruck from The Moon is Hell (1950) by John Campbell, the planetruck from The Slave Ship to Andrigo (1951) by Ross Rocklynne and the automatic truck from Mechnocracy (1932) by Miles J. Breurer.
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Autonomous Truck-related
news articles:
- Embark Autonomous Trucks Still Need Humans
- Dockworkers Protest Driverless Trucks
- No Autonomous Trucks? Wait, What?
- Rivian Actually Making Electric Self-Driving Trucks
| Alcohol-Sensing Cars - NTSB Catches Up With Philip K. Dick (1963) |
| Tianjin Solar Vehicle From Hanergy (2022) Looking Like Heinlein's (1940) |
| Sky Cruise Nuclear Powered Flying Hotel Concept |
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'Holodeck 4 was waiting to be programmed...'
