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"I suspect that religion is a necessary evil in the childhood of our particular species. And that's one of the interesting things about contact with other intelligences: we could see what role, if any, religion plays in their development."
- Arthur C. Clarke
 |
| Automatic Truck | ||
| A cargo-carrying vehicle that autonomously drives to the selected destination. |
Pretty early description of an autonomous truck (I don't know of an earlier one).
| Then there was a roar and a crash and a burst of daylight.
The two fugitives jumped up and ran, knocking
over several astonished people who were waiting for packages; their destination was an open door with daylight
beyond. Out there was a row of trucks with
laundry packages dropping into them from overhead
chutes. They were automatic trucks such as are used
for making deliveries beyond the pneumatic-tube zone.
They leaped into the foremost truck. Quentin set the switches on impulse for Bay Shore, because that was not where he wanted to go, and they both rolled back into the closed portion of the vehicle. The truck started slowly, gathered momentum, and automatically made its way out of the city. After fifteen minutes of eternity, they looked out. The truck was moving swiftly along a country road. Twilight was gathering rapidly. "We'd better jump out and let it go on," Quentin suggested. |
| Technovelgy from Mechanocracy,
by Miles J. Breuer. Published by Amazing Stories in 1932 Additional resources -
|
Compare to the electrotruck from The Corkscrew of Space (1956) by Poul Anderson. Also, see the entries for the automatic automobile from David H. Keller's 1935 story The Living Machine, the Camden Speedster from Robert Heinlein's serialized 1941 novel Methuselah's Children and the Automatic Control Car from Arthur C. Clarke's Imperial Earth (1976).
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Additional
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More Ideas
and Technology from Mechanocracy
More Ideas
and Technology by Miles J. Breuer
Tech news articles related to Mechanocracy
Tech news articles related to works by Miles J. Breuer
Automatic Truck-related
news articles:
- Self-Driving Truck Corridor From Manitoba To Mexico?
- Patented! Google's Autonomous Delivery Trucks
- Otto Autonomous Robot Trucks Run Into... Legal Snag
- Volvo's Autonomous Truck
| GoSun EV Solar Charger Drapes Onto Your Car |
| 'Autonomous' Waymo Improves Driving With Remote Human Operators |
| Heinlein’s Controlway - Connected and Automated Vehicle (CAV) Corridor In Michigan |
| CyberCab - Tesla Renames The Robotaxi |
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'What would you do,' Eric asked the robot cabdriver, 'if your wife had turned to stone, your best friend were a toad, and you had lost your job?'
'those suits they wear -- call them 'stillsuits' -- that reclaim the body's own water...'
'Now, except for weight and heat, the same conditions prevail in this chamber as in space.'
'there were so many worms and counterworms loose in the data-net...'
'Now, look, let's start with the three fundamental Rules of Robotics...'
'..the synthetic intellects at the Place of Knowledge had far outstripped the minds of men.'
'But after washing and drying clothes had to be smooth - free from fine lines and wrinkles ...'
