The Future was here, Years agO
Many technologies we have taken for granted as new were actually quite old already as our coluMnist delves the Matter.
THEY say a lot of things can happen in 100 years. A century ago, the average worker at the Ford Motor Company earned US$ 5 a day ( it is now around US$ 28 per hour), the country we know as Nigeria was two separate British colonies, and 13 existing European Union and Eastern European countries were subjects of the AustroHungarian Empire.
Similarly, 100 years ago, car technology was still just three decades old.
And, prior to the invention of the mass- produced car ( take a bow, Ford) in 1908, it was still being seen as a novelty item. The horse and cart ( and the steam train) was still the only way to travel.
And, while we can laugh at how our forefathers rode around in cars with uncomfortable suspension systems, cabins with no touchscreen climate controls and in- car entertainment systems, we should also acknowledge the fact that some of the things we take for granted today are actually not new. Take for instance the electric car. Think the Nissan Leaf, Tesla Model S and Mitsubishi i MiEV are new tech? Think again.
The first electric cars were made in the 1880s and such vehicles were actually quite popular in the late 19th and early 20th century.
It was only improvements in internal combustion engines that resulted in our love affair with the petrol/ diesel- fuelled cars of today.
Otherwise, who knows, electric cars may have been the norm now. Or the horse and carriage, and the steam train.
Then there is the parts outsourcing model that is used by many modern carmakers today where hundreds and thousands of components are made by other companies under contract. Think that is a new idea?
Think again, it was started in the 1900s by carmaker Ransom E Olds ( of Oldsmobile and REO fame).
Some things have changed, however.
It has been said that Ford founder Henry Ford was disdainful of having colour options for his precious Model T.
He apparently retorted, “You can have a Model T in any colour, as long as it’s black.”
If Mr Ford were alive today, though, we wonder what he would feel if he saw the colour options available to car buyers now.
Not only are we spoilt for choice in terms of the colour options available from factory standard vehicles, aftermarket spray painting choices will have your mind reeling.
So what if your car was not in its original colour when it was time to sell or trade in? Well, nowadays there are things like colour wrapping and rubber spray paint.
Colour wrapping is the use of coloured film- wrap to change the colour of your car.
There are around 300 types of colour film available, which – according to the feature in the Japan Times – can last you about three years before you will need to change it... at a cost of 1.2 million yen, or roughly RM37,000.
A cheaper option, according to the article, is Doall Co’s S Design Rubber Paint.
The company offers 16 colours at a price tag of 3,980 yen each ( RM115) for partial painting and up to eight colours for repainting the whole car ( price tag not given).
The beauty of Doall’s offering is that it allows a car owner to get creative.
Fancy a lady bug VW Beetle? It can be done.
Want streaks of red lightning? That can be done too.
Each rubber paint application lasts about six months and can be peeled off easily once you get tired of it or are looking for a new “look”.
In an old episode of the popular Top Gear motoring show, its former controversial presenter Jeremy Clarkson was given the challenge of doing the interior of a car his way.
Clarkson took a 1996 MercedesBenz S280 and designed the interior based on his house.
The “Anne Hathaway Cottage” on wheels had a flagstone floor, wooden kitchen chairs and a working wood- burning stove.
That it was a death trap was pretty obvious to see, given the lack of seatbelts and the fact that the kitchen chairs were not secured to anything.
Someone at the German automaker’s headquarters must have seen and enjoyed that episode because the Stuttgart- based firm recently unveiled its vision for a driverless car... whose interior looks like a living room – a post- Modernist living room, of course. Not a single flagstone in sight.
According to a report in The Daily Mail, the car of the future will be a four- seater design with chairs that can rotate so that people can face each other.
It was later revealed as the Mercedes- Benz F 015 Luxury in Motion.
There will even be a coffee table included, although nowhere in the article was a coffee machine mentioned.
Daimler AG corporate research and sustainability head Dr Herbert Kohler told the newspaper that the living- room- in- a- car concept was Daimler’s belief that autonomous driving would be a central factor on the way to comfortable, accident- free driving.
“Autonomous driving relieves pressure and stress in driving situations usually regarded as tedious, for example in tailbacks, in innercity areas or on long journeys.
“At the same time, it opens up new ways in which people can make the best use of their time on the road,” Kohler added.
Mercedes’ living room on wheels of the future is something out of The Jetsons.
The four lounge chairs rotate individually, allowing for multiple configurations and even allows for the driver to take over driving the car while everyone else gets to chat face- to- face.
Aside from the cool coffee table idea, the car’s on- board systems can monitor hand, eye, finger and other movements, which can then be used to control a variety of functions.
Furthermore, the windows are screens that allow occupants to view films, different pre- recorded scenery or even the outside world.
Yes, a lot of things can change in 100 years.
A lot can change in 100 issues of what started out as a limited run article about installing sound systems in cars.
Who knows where the next 100 years and 100 more articles will take us?