Ford's vision of the future from 1971
05/16/2011
In 1971, when the American automotive industry was still doing better, manufacturers took the time to come up with transportation concepts for the future. Ford was no exception. The scientists at the Transportation Science Department came up with a road system in which vehicles would be steered automatically via a control rail. In urban areas, the driver of the Ford Mustang would have extended his steering arm and engaged with the system. Energy would then have flowed to him, which would have fed the built-in electric motor (!) and the computer (!) for steering. If the roads were not equipped, the Mustang would simply have been steered in the conventional way.
The system of "horizontal elevators" went one step further. Up to 12 people could be accommodated in one of these transport bodies and would travel at 48 km/h towards the destination selected via buttons (as with a lift).
