Long before Waymo, or Robotaxis or any of the other self-driving vehicles showing up on the roads today, there was Christine.
And if you worry about the safety of robotaxis, remember that Christine, a 1958 Plymouth Fury, was out to kill its owner and his friends.
Today, Christine, apparently a reformed character, lives at the Petersen Automotive Museum in Los Angeles.
A friendlier sort of autonomous car was the Knight Industries Two Thousand, aka KITT., which starred along with David Hasselhoff in the 1980s TV series Knight Rider. KITT was based on the Pontiac Firebird, but with many added features: artificial intelligence, a hydrogen-powered turbojet engine, red strobe lights that flashed when the car ‘spoke’ and the feature we’d all like to see in a car: a turbo button that, when pressed, enabled KITT to vault over other cars and avoid traffic.
