Johnnycab (Automation Paradox, Pt. 2)

99% Invisible

SiriusXM Podcasts and Roman Mars

Design, Arts

4.8 • 27.5K Ratings

🗓️ 1 July 2015

⏱️ 22 minutes

🔗️ Recording | iTunes | RSS

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Summary

More than 90% of all automobile accidents are all attributable to human error, for some car industry people, a fully-automated car is a kind of holy grail. However, as automation makes our lives easier and safer, it also creates more … Continue reading →

Transcript

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0:00.0	This is 99% invisible. I am Roman Mars.
0:04.0	In 1956, General Motors hosted a car expo called Motorola.
0:10.0	As with all car expos, Motorola was a chance to show off concept cars and other kinds of longshot projects that they hoped would revolutionize the auto industry.
0:19.0	One of the most forward-looking things on display wasn't a car but a movie.
0:24.0	That's forward-looking producer Sam Greenspan.
0:27.0	The film was called Key to the Future.
0:29.0	In it, we see a family of four cruising along a desert highway in a beautiful futuristic GM
0:34.9	Firebird. It's got aerodynamic fins, gas turbine engines, and all-glass passenger
0:40.4	cabin. It looks like a car from the Jetsons, only it's not flying, it's driving on a highway.
0:46.0	But this car is actually just the set dressing for what GM really wants to show us.
0:51.0	Their vision for a self-driving vehicle.
0:54.0	This is Firebird 2 304.
0:58.2	We're heading for Chicago.
0:59.7	Please route us through.
1:01.2	Over.
1:02.0	Roger Firebird 2. You're now under automatic control.
1:05.0	Hands off steering.
1:07.0	After being put on automatic control, the dad who's driving the car pushes the steering wheel out of the way.
1:14.0	Oh, this is the light.
1:15.0	Safe, cool, comfortable.
1:18.0	Mind if I spoke a cigar?
1:20.0	No longer tethered to the steering wheel,
	...

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