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Seoul Self-Driving 42dot Bus Unveiled
South Korea's 42dot has introduced the first self-driving, autonomous bus in their capital city, Seoul.
(Self-driving Seoul bus)
The new vehicle does not look like a regular bus and has rounded edges along with large windows that make it appear more like a toy than a technological breakthrough.This design is intentional, said Jeong Seong-gyun, head of autonomous driving at 42dot, the start-up responsible for the self-driving technology that is now owned by auto giant Hyundai.
"This is the future," he told AFP, adding that the bus required "a considerable new type of design".
Fans of sf great Isaac Asimov may recall his 1953 short story Sally (1953):
"Now you listen to me." I raised my voice because I was just too mad to be polite anymore. "When you turn off Sally's motor, you hurt her. How would you like to be kicked unconscious?...""You're exaggerating, Jake. The automatobuses get turned off every night."
(Read more about automatobuses)
However, pride of place goes with the first mention, as far as I know, which is by Henry Kuttner writing in The Little Things in 1946:
Buses without drivers moved close to the curb and stopped at intervals. The lamp posts gave a different sort of light...He hopped one of the robot buses when it stopped.
(Read more about robot bus)
Update 11-Nov-2023: As far as I know, the first science fiction writers to describe this idea autobus were Stanley G. and Helen Weinbaum in the short story Tidal Moon:
THE autobus turned silently down the wide street of Hydropole. Robot-guided, insulated from noise and cold, it was certainly preferable to traveling by hipp.
(Read more about autobus)
End update.
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