Current:Home > FinanceHorseless carriages were once a lot like driverless cars. What can history teach us?-DB Wealth Institute B2 Expert Reviews
Horseless carriages were once a lot like driverless cars. What can history teach us?
View Date:2024-12-23 19:30:01
Driverless taxicabs, almost certainly coming to a city near you, have freaked out passengers in San Francisco, Phoenix and Austin over the past year. Some documented their experiences on TikTok.
Octogenarians, startled by the empty front seats during a ride to a coffee shop in Phoenix, for example, and a rider named Alex Miller who cracked jokes through his first Waymo trip last spring. "Oh, we're making a left hand turn without using a left turn lane," he observed. "That was ... interesting."
The nervous laughter of anxious TikTokers reminds historian Victor McFarland of the pedestrians who yelled "Get a horse" to hapless motorists in the 1910s. But McFarland, who teaches at the University of Missouri, says the newfangled beasts known as automobiles were more threatening and unfamiliar to people a century ago than driverless cars are to us now.
"Automobiles were frightening to a lot of people at first," he says. "The early automobiles were noisy. They were dangerous. They had no seatbelts. They ran over pedestrians. "
Some people also felt threatened by the freedom and independence newly available to entire classes of people, says Saje Mathieu, a history professor at the University of Minnesota. They included Black people whose movements were restricted by Jim Crow. Cars let them more easily search for everything from better employment to more equitable healthcare, as could women, who often seized opportunities to learn how to repair cars themselves.
And, she adds, cars offered privacy and mobility, normalizing space for sexual possibilities.
"One of the early concerns was that the back seats in these cars were about the length of a bed, and people were using it for such things," Mathieu explains.
Early 20th century parents worried about "petting parties" in the family flivver, but contemporary overscheduled families see benefits to driverless taxis.
"If I could have a driverless car drive my daughter to every boring playdate, that would transform my life," Mathieu laughs. She says that larger concerns today include numerous laws that can be broken when no one is at the wheel. Who is liable if a pregnant person takes a driverless car across state lines to obtain an abortion, for example? Or when driverless cars transport illegal drugs?
A century ago, she says, people worried about the bootleggers' speed, discretion and range in automobiles. And back then, like now, she adds, there were concerns about the future of certain jobs.
"A hundred-plus years ago, we were worried about Teamsters being out of work," Mathieu says. Teamsters then drove teams of horses. Union members today include truckers, who might soon compete with driverless vehicles in their own dedicated lanes.
"You can't have congestion-free driving just because you constantly build roads," observes history professor Peter Norton of the University of Virginia. Now, he says, is an excellent time to learn from what has not worked in the past. "It doesn't automatically get safe just because you have state-of-the-art tech."
Historians say we need to stay behind the wheel when it comes to driverless cars, even if that becomes only a figure of speech.
Camila Domonoske contributed to this report.
veryGood! (1)
Related
- Waymo’s robotaxis now open to anyone who wants a driverless ride in Los Angeles
- Sarah Paulson Reveals Whether She Gets Advice From Holland Taylor—And Her Answer Is Priceless
- Garth Brooks Speaks Out on Rape Allegation From His and Trisha Yearwood's Makeup Artist
- The Daily Money: Is it time to refinance?
- Joel Embiid injury, suspension update: When is 76ers star's NBA season debut?
- Hawaii nurses union calls new contract a step in the right direction
- Nikki Garcia's Sister Brie Garcia Sends Message to Trauma Victims After Alleged Artem Chigvintsev Fight
- Solar flares may cause faint auroras across top of Northern Hemisphere
- California farmers enjoy pistachio boom, with much of it headed to China
- Californians’ crime concerns put pressure on criminal justice reform and progressive DAs
Ranking
- RHOBH's Kyle Richards Shares Reaction to BFF Teddi Mellencamp's Divorce
- Off the Grid: Sally breaks down USA TODAY's daily crossword puzzle, Body Art
- Parents turn in children after police release photos from flash mob robberies, LAPD says
- Photo shows U.S. Rep. Mike Lawler wearing blackface at college Halloween party in 2006
- Why Officials Believe a Missing Kayaker Faked His Own Death and Ran Off to Europe
- 'Devastating consequences': Climate change likely worsened floods after Helene
- Joe Jonas Has Cheeky Response to Fan Hoping to Start a Romance With Him
- Scary new movies to see this October, from 'Terrifier 3' to 'Salem's Lot'
Recommendation
-
It's cozy gaming season! Video game updates you may have missed, including Stardew Valley
-
Caitlin Clark wins WNBA Rookie of the Year after historic debut with Fever
-
Jason Duggar Marries Maddie Grace in Fall-Themed Wedding
-
Port strike may not affect gas, unless its prolonged: See latest average prices by state
-
Shawn Mendes quest for self-discovery is a quiet triumph: Best songs on 'Shawn' album
-
Detroit bus driver gets 6 months in jail for killing pedestrian
-
Supreme Court to weigh a Texas death row case after halting execution
-
International fiesta fills New Mexico’s sky with colorful hot air balloons