 History 2
This is probably still the most important achievement of all, being able to drive and steer a vehicle over a longer distance. Not only are you transporting goods, but you are also transporting yourself somewhere else very
quickly. And in a way that you largely determine yourself. If you have a car with enough fuel in front of your door, you can drive off whenever you want and don't need anyone's assistance.
Although the invention of the railway enabled mankind to move around at speeds faster than that of a carriage, it was the car that actually freed us from departure times and locations, routing and although not in the
beginning, and then later significantly more than the railway in terms of speed. Last but not least, for many people who cannot afford their own home, new cars are the biggest investments of their lives.
Accidents, including fatal accidents, show the power that a person has behind the wheel. This actually doesn't exist in this form anywhere in our well-organized, civilized lives. Here again and again the example of a
difference in speed of up to 200 km/h on the country road. Even if you only drive 50 km/h here, you have to rely 100% on the oncoming driver. Even a difference of 150 km/h usually means certain death in a frontal collision.
Does anyone else take such a risk almost every day? And this in no way only affects drivers. They are now even trying to protect themselves with a SUV like a tank and an elevation of the car. As in the first mass motorization
of our era in the USA after the First World War, pedestrians are the second most victims of traffic accidents, apart from those on country roads.
Surprisingly, the fascination of driving a car is not centered around the brakes, i.e. the idea of safety. By the way, just like at the moment the manufacturer of a brake that reliably collects the dust it produces cannot launch it
into series production. Safety and environmental friendliness are topics in the newspaper almost every day, but apparently not when it comes to a sales pitch about extras when purchasing a car.
No, it is the steering wheel from which the actual experience comes, perhaps in combination with the accelerator pedal, although the latter also diminishes a bit. You quickly get used to being able to accelerate twice as fast
as the previous vehicle. But steering somehow remains a central element of driving a car. We also speak of a self-steering car and not a self-braking or self-accelerating car.
That's why the steering wheel lasted so long, after relatively quickly replacing all other cryptic designs, and apparently can't be replaced by a joystick, for example. The clutch pedal has long been replaceable and in some
electric cars the brake pedal is only used for around 10 percent of all braking processes that occur in practice. The steering wheel remains and currently contains some of the buttons and even rotary controls that are
banished from the rest of the dashboard or the center console.
That's why the steering wheel lasted so long, after relatively quickly replacing all other cryptic designs, and apparently can't be replaced by a joystick, for example. The clutch pedal has long been replaceable and in some
electric cars the brake pedal is only used for around 10 percent of all braking processes that occur in practice. The steering wheel remains and currently contains some of the buttons and even control dials that are banished
from the rest of the dashboard or the center console.
It was not for nothing that in America in the 1920s and increasingly in the 1930s, vehicles were endowed with mystical properties. Although they were without a driver, they were in no way self-steering, but were remotely
controlled by a vehicle following at a reasonable distance. Even today, the moment when the test engineer takes his or her hands off the steering wheel while driving is still celebrated.
As with many other inventions, war or the military is the driving force. At that time, people obviously already believed in drones, just not for flying, but driving. As the sheer amazement of the audience subsides somewhat, the
accident-reducing effect of quasi-autonomous cars is also emphasized. What is striking is that for a very long time this emphasis on the driver's safety in accidents was very opportune. Then there is no need to change the
technology.
On the contrary, the manufacturers are reinforcing the topic of 'road safety' with their own films. Science fiction of the 1930s is not about space, as it was later, but about the driverless car with its properties interpreted into it.
Entire novels can be invented out of such peculiarities. It should not be forgotten that at the end of the 1930s the USA had just emerged from the greatest depression in its history.
It is of course a good idea to carry out urban planning in the spirit of the new technology when purchasing power is not yet widespread enough. Just like today, designers are constantly introducing new creations of cars with
or without a retractable steering wheel. After all, traffic visions with the beginning of construction of the highway network have a real background. But new utopian cities were also thought of.
Similar to how one imagines the situation today in the year 2050, the same was done with the future in 1960 at the World's Fair in New York in 1939. It is probably the first time ever that so much attention has been paid to
traffic and, in the middle of it all, traffic independent of human hands. Apparently no one explained back then how it was supposed to work, but no one asked either.
In contrast to Europe, mass motorization and its consequences were of course noticeable in the USA much earlier, namely before the Second World War. Some of the observers probably saw the demonstrations as a way to
avoid traffic jams or at least do something useful in them. Even today, the longer route still seems to be an incentive to stay on track and devote a little more attention to the family traveling with you.
With the Second World War came radar as a distance sensor, making driving on a wire embedded in the road safer. The steering wheel is still there, but you can clearly turn away from it and turn to the family. The resulting
togetherness is similar to that at home. Important to mention: In contrast to Europe, the boom began almost immediately after the war. At the same time, the big cities grew beyond themselves. Commuting became part of
everyday life.
Now the automotive industry cannot avoid supporting the wonderful world of driverless cars with practical experiments. The experiments by Continental described in this book were carried out at GM 20 years earlier. But, you
are still essentially dependent on the guide wire. At the same time, advertising tries to get women behind the wheel in addition to men, who have enough cars.
So the topic of 'autonomous driving' seems to have a future here too, but ultimately the only thing that comes from it is the almost universal supply of automatic transmissions. This also enables early cruise control
(tempomat). This again encourages fantasies of a kind of automatic transport where you only have to choose the destination.
That's finally Herbie, at first glance not a topic for this book. Because no one tells this car to take passengers from A to B. There is always a driver behind the steering wheel. For us in Europe, it is the first car with feelings
and therefore a special relationship with its drivers and mechanics. It is one of the first cars with heart and soul.
Unlike a normal VW Beetle, once brought into turmoil, it is capable of almost incredible feats.Then it no longer obeys the commands of its steering wheel and accelerator pedal. Even braking doesn't help, it does whatever it
wants, falls in love or takes on much larger limousines. After all, the kaleidoscope of its possibilities is more complex than that of the huge tanker truck in Spielberg's film 'Duell'.
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