From machine operator to passenger
11/29/2024
The automobile was once a crude, very mechanical structure. To start and drive it, you needed skill, strength and sometimes the ability to suffer. In the beginning, that was fine, because the alternative was walking or horse-drawn carriages. The automobile was faster and easier to handle, with all its early weaknesses. But you almost had to be a machinist or mechanic to start the car and keep it moving.
Over time, however, cars became more and more comfortable. Electric starters, automatic gearboxes, closed bodies, heating/air conditioning and more and more electric and electronic helpers were introduced, allowing a carefree journey after which you arrived neither soaked in sweat nor exhausted. A luxury-class Mercedes-Benz of the eighties or nineties, just like its competitors, offered almost every comfort you could wish for.
Development has continued and is now so far advanced that drivers have little more to do than passengers did 100 years ago. Modern cars can travel many kilometers without the driver having to intervene. Level 2 autonomous driving is a reality, and level 3 will soon be too. In fact, the driver is increasingly becoming a passenger himself, and his new demands are correspondingly different. "Entertainment" is required, music playback at sound study quality level and a nice ambience (with alternating light pulses ...). Incidentally, we are deliberately not talking about electric cars versus combustion engines here, because the hybrid or ICE (internal combustion engine) everyday vehicle has actually also developed in this direction.
Of course, not all car buyers are looking for these modern achievements; a not inconsiderably large segment continues to love the genuine "driver's car", as an automobile that gives pleasure and satisfaction when actively driven. No wonder, then, that manual gearboxes are very much in demand again, as are sporty-sounding exhaust systems.
One question that naturally arises from the perspective of the classic car enthusiast is whether people who grow up with such modern cars, in which the driver is more of a passenger, will ever be able to do anything with a classic automobile. And the follow-up question is how large the segment of those who still want to experience the "joy of driving" will be.
But one thing is for sure, I myself am less comfortable in the role of driving passenger ...
