Aftermarket May 2022

D reaming about what is ahead has always been a favourite hobby for humankind. Throughout the centuries, we have asked ourselves infinite futuristic questions, and we have come up with varied answers in our attempts to solve dilemmas and satisfy our curiosity and excitement. What will we look like in 100 years’ time? Will we have discovered the elixir of life and beauty? Will robots have become our personal assistants, serving us hand and foot without fail? In terms of innovations, vehicles have often proven to be one of our greatest fascinations. Cars have only been around since 1886, when Karl Benz patented a three- wheeled vehicle with an internal combustion engine. Nevertheless, they have frequently been used as parameters to monitor our technological progression. In just over 135 years, many predictions have emerged on what the looks and features of future cars could be. From autonomous vehicles to flying cars, the expectations of the past have both been forward-thinking as much as they were science fiction. At this point, an obvious question comes to mind: how far off were vehicle fortune-tellers? Were they realistic or, perhaps, a bit too hopeful? Here, we explore a few predictions from the past, evaluating if they have been able to foresee the future of the car market. Floating vehicles Gravitating cars have tickled our imagination for decades. In truth, is there anything more futuristic and avant-garde? The first concepts of anti-gravity cars started to take off in the 1970s, perhaps incentivised by recent successful space expeditions. If we could fly safely to the moon, why wouldn’t we be able to float from one city to the next? A 20 AFTERMARKET MAY 2022 TECHNICAL www.aftermarketonline.net DRIVING DAYS OF FUTURE PAST Looking at car previsions over the years, Grange asks if past drivers predicted the future of vehicles? notorious example from 1979 was the so-called Mead Anti- Gravity Car, a flying vehicle fitted with wings and wraparound windscreens. Were dreamers of the past a bit too optimistic? Put simply, they were. In fact, as we speak, no gravitating car has ever graced our roads (yet). Recently, however, a hybrid car-aircraft called AirCar has been handed a certificate of airworthiness. Equipped with a BMW engine and the ability to transform itself from an aircraft to a road vehicle, it is the closest experts have come to a modern, flying car. However, because of its similarities to a standard plane, you would need a pilot licence to ‘drive’ it. Therefore, with regards to floating vehicles, it is fair to say that past thinkers have been overly wishful. Autonomous and self-driving cars Being chauffeured from A to B with very little effort has been a sweet fantasy for a long time. Halfway through the Below: Hyundai flying car at CES 2020