Old Predictions About Cars of the New Millennium
Humans have been trying to predict the future since the beginning of time, but the new millennium that would begin in the year 2000 seemed to carry a bit more weight. As early as the 1890’s we saw people imagining what life would be like in the early aughts. Some predictions, like how we would feed and dress ourselves, have (thankfully) not come true. Others have gotten surprisingly close, like some of these old concept cars that look eerily familiar to what you might find in our modern parking lots. Check out some of our favorite predictions about driving in the year 2000 and beyond below!
Cars Would Be Cheaper Than Horses
In December 1900 John Elfreth Watkins Jr. wrote an article, “What May Happen in the Next Hundred Years” for Ladies Home Journal. As a civil engineer, he had some decent authority over what the future of technology might hold, and he wasn’t completely wrong. He accurately called that cars would cost less than horses. In his era, all but the extremely wealthy could never even dream of owning a car, but most owned horses. However, he predicted that flies and mosquitos would have been goners, but they’re still here pestering us in 2017.
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Car Shoes
No, they don’t mean driving moccasins. French artist Villemard did a whole series of prints on what he thought the year 2000 would look like, including something that looks like motorized roller skates. Unfortunately, those haven’t caught on. But, he wasn’t too far off in his idea of motorcycles and electric trains.
Smaller Electric Cars
The predictions started to get a bit more realistic as they got closer to the new millennium. In 1982 futurist Roy Amara told the New York Times that he thought we’d all be driving much smaller cars, and that up to 10% of cars on the road would be electric.
Flying Cars
A list of predictions about cars of the future wouldn’t be complete without mentioning flying cars. The most common source of these predictions is from the cartoon The Jetsons, but also the 1988 film Back to the Future II. Unfortunately, it’s not quite a reality for us, but some are predicting that 2017 could be the year this technology (literally) takes off.
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