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What I like about that era is that companies were brave to think wild. Even if the car and it's workings are close to science fiction,I'm sure it generated absu

What I like about that era is that companies were brave to think wild. Even if the car and it's workings are close to science fiction,I'm sure it generated absurd amount of press coverage + got lots of people really excited about the future. Look at Ford now: super boring company making ever bigger pickups.. Hardly any excitement could come out of it now.

serf 5y ago
>What I like about that era is that companies were brave to think wild. i'm not usually an advocate for such technologies, but self-driving cars are pretty wild -- at the very least they're a pretty large legal risk for those that are playing in that field.
- sandworm101 5y ago
  Self-driving cars were already 'pretty wild' tech in 1950s. The tech might be a little more practical today, but it is a very old concept. "In the 1950s, the Radio Corporation of America (RCA) believed it had the self-driving car buckled up and locked down. The company’s quarterly magazine, Electronic Age , featured its vision of the “highway of the future” in its January 1958 issue." "About two and a half years later, reporters experienced the highway themselves on a test track located in Princeton, NJ. The cars drove themselves around the track, using sensors on their front bumpers to detect an electrical cable embedded in the road. The cable was equipped with signals warning of obstructions ahead, such as a stalled vehicle or road work, and the cars would autonomously brake or switch lanes, depending on what was up the road. A receiver on the dashboard would also interrupt the vehicle’s radio to announce information about upcoming exits." https://www.electronicproducts.com/throwback-tech-self-driving-cars-were-a-thing-in-the-1950s/ https://www.electronicproducts.com/throwback-tech-self-drivi...
  - fiddlerwoaroof 5y ago
    I wish there’d be more initiatives to make roads “legible” by self-driving cars: distinctive computer-readable markings, machine-readable codes on signs, etc.
    - 2muchcoffeeman 5y ago
      What happens when someone graffitis over the special sign? Or steals it? Or knocks it over?
      - fiddlerwoaroof 5y ago
        You fall back to in-car autopilot. I’m sure there’s a “progressive enhancement” way to do this. For one thing, we already have this issue with the current road signs: if the right sign is defaced, a human driver is likely to make a mistake
        rbanffy 5y ago
        Signage could be embedded in the asphalt. It’d probably be easier to read by the car this way, and much harder to remove.
        sandworm101 5y ago
        Travel route 66. They had such trouble with people pulling down those signs that they instead painted them onto the road. But that doesn't work so well in bad weather as rain/snow makes such signs difficult to read. Painted road is also more slippery.
        rbanffy 5y ago
        I suggested something like embedding RFID tags in the road, not paint signs over it. If you also embed trackers in the signs themselves, the depredation issue is easier to deal with.
        fiddlerwoaroof 5y ago
        I wonder if you could embed little iron strips in the road in a specific pattern and then put some sort of sensor inside the tires to read the pattern. And then have a warning system to alert people about the transition from “upgraded” to “normal” roads.
jimsparkman 5y ago
While certainly focused on larger vehicles, by all appearances Ford is much more exciting and innovative than its traditional domestic counterparts. The new electric F150, electric mustang, the Bronco series, etc. have all seemed to drum up quite the fanfare. I can’t say the same for GM.
- Maxburn 5y ago
  You mean you aren't excited by the cheap pushrod v8 GM STILL has in production? /s
  - jakogut 5y ago
    I mean, non-sarcastically, lots of people are excited about it, including me. They're a dime a dozen in junkyards. They all have high flowing aluminum heads, and coil per cylinder ignition. The pushrod design keeps the engine compact. Aluminum blocks are light, not much heavier than cast iron I4/V6 long blocks. All LSes have six bolt mains. The stock bottom end on every LS engine will survive four digit HP. Gen V LT series engines come with direct injection.
  - markzzerella 5y ago
    That's probably the most exciting thing in the automotive world right now.
  - deviledeggs 5y ago
    I am. Cars are a big hobby for me, a big part of my life. Chevy is the only company not going out of their way to make things too complex and locked down to repair yourself. Chevy is the only manufacturer with viable aftermarket parts for many varieties of auto and boat racing. Like yeah, you see supras and Hondas and stuff at the strip on weekends. But serious racing is running Chevy Small Block derivatives. Tech bros lament the death of open platforms for their hobbies, like the continuing lockdown of phones. The same thing is happening with cars. Thankfully Chevy has proved you can have a modern competitive car that meets emissions standards using 60's engine layouts that are easy to modify and repair. And pushrod engines aren't that bad. Overhead cam adds a huge amount of weight and bulk to the engine. This is the only reason Chevy is still able to fit 6 liter engines into their small sports cars. Everyone else has transitioned to small turbo engines because DOHC takes up so much space. And the modern Chevy V8's shut off half their cylinders when you're not using them so they don't waste tons of fuel either
hugg 5y ago
Not sure this is an example a company thinking wild.. I mean all they did was create a model of how something could _look_.
andrewljohnson 5y ago
Ah yes, those wildly innovative do-gooder car companies of the 50s: "The “smog conspiracy” was revealed in 1968 when the US Department of Justice filed an anti-trust case against the Big Three. They were accused of colluding to withhold the installation of catalytic converters and other technologies to reduce pollution. “Beginning at least as early as 1953, and continuing thereafter,” alleged the Department of Justice, “the defendants and co-conspirators have been engaged in a combination and conspiracy in unreasonable restraint of the aforesaid interstate trade and commerce in motor vehicle air pollution control equipment.” https://www.counterpunch.org/2015/10/28/automakers-and-their-dark-deadly-conpiracies/ https://www.counterpunch.org/2015/10/28/automakers-and-their...

serf 5y ago

>What I like about that era is that companies were brave to think wild. i'm not usually an advocate for such technologies, but self-driving cars are pretty wild -- at the very least they're a pretty large legal risk for those that are playing in that field.

sandworm101 5y ago
Self-driving cars were already 'pretty wild' tech in 1950s. The tech might be a little more practical today, but it is a very old concept. "In the 1950s, the Radio Corporation of America (RCA) believed it had the self-driving car buckled up and locked down. The company’s quarterly magazine, Electronic Age , featured its vision of the “highway of the future” in its January 1958 issue." "About two and a half years later, reporters experienced the highway themselves on a test track located in Princeton, NJ. The cars drove themselves around the track, using sensors on their front bumpers to detect an electrical cable embedded in the road. The cable was equipped with signals warning of obstructions ahead, such as a stalled vehicle or road work, and the cars would autonomously brake or switch lanes, depending on what was up the road. A receiver on the dashboard would also interrupt the vehicle’s radio to announce information about upcoming exits." https://www.electronicproducts.com/throwback-tech-self-driving-cars-were-a-thing-in-the-1950s/ https://www.electronicproducts.com/throwback-tech-self-drivi...
- fiddlerwoaroof 5y ago
  I wish there’d be more initiatives to make roads “legible” by self-driving cars: distinctive computer-readable markings, machine-readable codes on signs, etc.
  - 2muchcoffeeman 5y ago
    What happens when someone graffitis over the special sign? Or steals it? Or knocks it over?
    - fiddlerwoaroof 5y ago
      You fall back to in-car autopilot. I’m sure there’s a “progressive enhancement” way to do this. For one thing, we already have this issue with the current road signs: if the right sign is defaced, a human driver is likely to make a mistake
      - rbanffy 5y ago
        Signage could be embedded in the asphalt. It’d probably be easier to read by the car this way, and much harder to remove.
        sandworm101 5y ago
        Travel route 66. They had such trouble with people pulling down those signs that they instead painted them onto the road. But that doesn't work so well in bad weather as rain/snow makes such signs difficult to read. Painted road is also more slippery.
        rbanffy 5y ago
        I suggested something like embedding RFID tags in the road, not paint signs over it. If you also embed trackers in the signs themselves, the depredation issue is easier to deal with.
        fiddlerwoaroof 5y ago
        I wonder if you could embed little iron strips in the road in a specific pattern and then put some sort of sensor inside the tires to read the pattern. And then have a warning system to alert people about the transition from “upgraded” to “normal” roads.

jimsparkman 5y ago

While certainly focused on larger vehicles, by all appearances Ford is much more exciting and innovative than its traditional domestic counterparts. The new electric F150, electric mustang, the Bronco series, etc. have all seemed to drum up quite the fanfare. I can’t say the same for GM.

Maxburn 5y ago
You mean you aren't excited by the cheap pushrod v8 GM STILL has in production? /s
- jakogut 5y ago
  I mean, non-sarcastically, lots of people are excited about it, including me. They're a dime a dozen in junkyards. They all have high flowing aluminum heads, and coil per cylinder ignition. The pushrod design keeps the engine compact. Aluminum blocks are light, not much heavier than cast iron I4/V6 long blocks. All LSes have six bolt mains. The stock bottom end on every LS engine will survive four digit HP. Gen V LT series engines come with direct injection.
- markzzerella 5y ago
  That's probably the most exciting thing in the automotive world right now.
- deviledeggs 5y ago
  I am. Cars are a big hobby for me, a big part of my life. Chevy is the only company not going out of their way to make things too complex and locked down to repair yourself. Chevy is the only manufacturer with viable aftermarket parts for many varieties of auto and boat racing. Like yeah, you see supras and Hondas and stuff at the strip on weekends. But serious racing is running Chevy Small Block derivatives. Tech bros lament the death of open platforms for their hobbies, like the continuing lockdown of phones. The same thing is happening with cars. Thankfully Chevy has proved you can have a modern competitive car that meets emissions standards using 60's engine layouts that are easy to modify and repair. And pushrod engines aren't that bad. Overhead cam adds a huge amount of weight and bulk to the engine. This is the only reason Chevy is still able to fit 6 liter engines into their small sports cars. Everyone else has transitioned to small turbo engines because DOHC takes up so much space. And the modern Chevy V8's shut off half their cylinders when you're not using them so they don't waste tons of fuel either

hugg 5y ago

Not sure this is an example a company thinking wild.. I mean all they did was create a model of how something could _look_.

andrewljohnson 5y ago

Ah yes, those wildly innovative do-gooder car companies of the 50s: "The “smog conspiracy” was revealed in 1968 when the US Department of Justice filed an anti-trust case against the Big Three. They were accused of colluding to withhold the installation of catalytic converters and other technologies to reduce pollution. “Beginning at least as early as 1953, and continuing thereafter,” alleged the Department of Justice, “the defendants and co-conspirators have been engaged in a combination and conspiracy in unreasonable restraint of the aforesaid interstate trade and commerce in motor vehicle air pollution control equipment.” https://www.counterpunch.org/2015/10/28/automakers-and-their-dark-deadly-conpiracies/ https://www.counterpunch.org/2015/10/28/automakers-and-their...