Imagine—as we have imagined since 1925, when the first radio-powered car was tested on Broadway in New York—imagine a world of cars free from human error. That first test crashed into a car of cameramen filming the stunt, and we’ve looked askance at the self-driving promise that has been “coming soon” ever since. But now—now it seems they may actually be here.

Will people look back on the century of human-driven cars as a brief, crude aberration, marveling that we tolerated the number of deaths—100 a day, every day, year after year? Will they, informed of our unease at the spooky machines, like monkeys with the monolith, laugh at our foolishness? Will the things end traffic as claimed (or—side note—will depopulation take care of that on its own)?

Maybe. But those future-people won’t know the satisfaction there was, wheel firmly in hand, deftly slipping between lanes, a neat little operation skillfully executed—or the manual transmission: foot, arm, hand, fluidly shifting from 4th to 5th, making the tricky start from a dead stop uphill. True, these motions are all but lost to us. Can we not also lose the drudgery, the misplaced rage, the humiliations, the small, petty victories, of city driving today?

Driverless cars, my god. Perhaps it’s true—perhaps we are blind to the bars of our jail as we sit behind the wheels we mistake for freedom. But there was, for a time, an animal pleasure in driving the machine ourselves.

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Special thanks to Eleanor Williams for suggesting the self-driving car.

Links:

• Related: Chris Burden, Metropolis II (from this series)

• The Surprisingly Long History of Driverless Cars – Dave Roos, History Channel, March 20, 2026

  
  

• RADIO-DRIVEN AUTO RUNS DOWN ESCORT; Wireless Directs Test Car in Wobbly Course Through Heavy Broadway Traffic. ESCAPES FIRE ENGINE CRASH Defect In Steering Mechanism Blamed for Erratic Action -- New Demonstration Planned. The New York Times, July 28, 1925

This post is part of The American 250, a series featuring 250 objects made by Americans, located in America, in honor of the country's 250th anniversary. 250 words on 250 works, from January 1 to December 31, 2026.

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