Automated Commuting — A
way for commuters to have separate automobiles yet leave the driving to
computers has been developed at the Massachusetts Institute of
Technology.... [Engineers] call the car a Commucar. It could be driven
and parked anywhere on any road, but would also be suitable for use
under automatic control on special, 60-mile-an-hour main arteries…. The
Commucar would be a light, compact, electric auto that would have arms
on each side. It could draw power through either arm from an electric
siderail while it was on a Commucar throughway. It would also be steered
and switched at junctions through these arm-siderail connections.
UPDATE
Engineers have not given up on self-driving cars.
Instead of the mostly mechanical approach envisioned in 1964, newer
versions run on batteries and use sensors and GPS to go driverless
without connecting to tracks or rails. In May, Google revealed a
prototype of their first planned self-driving car. The company’s test
vehicles have logged more than 700,000 driverless miles.
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