Remember that great Saturday morning cartoon The Jetsons? George, Elroy, Judy, Jane and the adorable Astro plus their robotic maid, Rosie. It was a great futuristic picture of what life might be like in a hundred years. They had all kinds of gadgets that took the work out of work from sweeping the floor to cooking a meal, all with the push of a button.
One of the neatest things they had was the flying car. Anyone who watched the Jetsons wanted a flying car. It took George to work, Jane to her favorite store and the kids to school. It wasn't necessary to actually drive the car, it did that on it's own. Oh, by the way, you can stop singing the theme song now.
Since the invention of the wheel, we humans like to be on the move. With the birth of the automobile, not only could we go further but we could get there faster as well. From the model A to the hybrid, we have struck up a love affair that seemingly has no end. Sometimes we even name our vehicles, they're almost like a member of the family.
Learning to drive was usually an unprecedented event. It was like a right of passage. To be able to master the controls and maneuver a huge hunk of steel down the road, especially by yourself, was like giving freedom to someone handed a life sentence. It was also a lesson in physics. I didn't understand the math of it, but it only took one time to figure out that taking a corner too fast in a 61 Chevy station wagon would slide that sled off in the ditch.
My beloved Google is working on a new car, one you won't have to drive. A computer will do all the driving. They claim it will cut down on the amount of accidents and virtually eliminate congested traffic. Surely it will eliminate having to stop and ask for directions and since most men won't do that anyway, they can breathe a sigh of relief.
The soon to be obsolete driver will simply ride along, working on their laptop, talking on their cell phone, reading, eating or anything else that doesn't require them to watch where the heck they're going. It seems we already spend a lot of time with our attention glued to some electronic device and it's a shame to think of all the scenery that will be missed. Not only the scenery, but the people in the other cars. Where I come from everybody waves at everybody else, whether you know them or not. One thing it may make easier is running away. All the kids will have to do is jump in, yell "Grandma's house!" and the car will take them there.
I'm not too worried about these new computer driven cars getting into this neck of the woods any time soon. The cost of the gadgetry alone is over $100,000 so it will take awhile to make them affordable to the average consumer.
I don't know if I will live to see the roads full of these cars but you never know, Mother lived through an era that saw her father farm with a team of horses to 48 row planters. In the meantime, I'm going to enjoy the thrill I get from my hands on the wheel, the pedal to the metal and the scenery along the journey.
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