Future Autonomous Driving as Viewed Circa 1956

[PHLBOS]

Cadillac Super Cruise? GM Had Autonomous Driving Nailed in 1956

The 2018 Cadillac CT6 is slated to offer Super Cruise—General Motors' first true hands-free driving technology—when the car goes on sale this fall. That's great, but we think GM had autonomous driving nailed more than 60 years ago. Well, maybe not nailed, but the company certainly had a good handle on what hands-free driving might look like one day.

Lol, the future in this video is 1976.

[Max Rockatansky]

Did she really say "pre-digested food" in the closing song?    Holy crap that must be what FritzOwl has envisioned when drafts up his Interstate plans.   I love how Dad is still wearing a suit and tie for a cross-country drive and smoking a cigar to boot. lol  Funny to think how much of a distopia the real 1970s must have felt to all those people from the 1950s.

Man...GM really wanted that whole Firebird concept to take off didn't they?   Probably the most interesting thing about the concept car was that it had a titanium body.  Really it was Chrysler that was probably the closest to making the turbine car a reality and not GM.  I've always had a lot of mixed opinions on Harley Earl designed concept cars, I never thought either of the Firebird concepts has aged well.

[Henry]

Man...GM really wanted that whole Firebird concept to take off didn't they?   Probably the most interesting thing about the concept car was that it had a titanium body.  Really it was Chrysler that was probably the closest to making the turbine car a reality and not GM.  I've always had a lot of mixed opinions on Harley Earl designed concept cars, I never thought either of the Firebird concepts has aged well.

Who would've guessed a decade later that the name would end up on a production Pontiac?

[Max Rockatansky]

Man...GM really wanted that whole Firebird concept to take off didn't they?   Probably the most interesting thing about the concept car was that it had a titanium body.  Really it was Chrysler that was probably the closest to making the turbine car a reality and not GM.  I've always had a lot of mixed opinions on Harley Earl designed concept cars, I never thought either of the Firebird concepts has aged well.

Who would've guessed a decade later that the name would end up on a production Pontiac?

Probably I assume it was on the short list for names on almost every new GM after the Firebird I.  My Grand Father was a plant manager for Chevrolet and had some pretty good stories from the 50s and 60s about stuff like how models got their names.  The Camaro was way closer to being called the Panther than most people realize.  Almost every car had anywhere from 3 to 12 names being bounced around, it was only a matter of time until Firebird was picked. 

But with the video, that whole cheese ball wholesomeness is a riot.  That was such an optimistic era and it's kind of amazing how sour it turned in just a couple decades. 

[PHLBOS]

Who would've guessed a decade later that the name would end up on a production Pontiac?

Probably I assume it was on the short list for names on almost every new GM after the Firebird I.  My Grand Father was a plant manager for Chevrolet and had some pretty good stories from the 50s and 60s about stuff like how models got their names.  The Camaro was way closer to being called the Panther than most people realize.  Almost every car had anywhere from 3 to 12 names being bounced around, it was only a matter of time until Firebird was picked.

Quite true.  Prior to Ford naming its pony-car the Mustang; several other possible names that floated around included Torino & Cougar with the latter having emblems & badges displayed on pre-production concept/clay variants.  Several years later, both names would be used for other models.

So GM contemplated actually naming a car its Camaro a Panther; which is ironic because that name would be later associated with the long-running (1979-2011) full-size Ford platform.