Never Stop Driving #105: Victory Lap
Halfway through 2024, I’m shocked and awed at the bursting of the autonomous vehicle bubble. The notion that driving could be outlawed in exchange for robot-driven taxis was floated in 2015 by Elon Musk, and longtime automotive executive and consummate car guy Bob Lutz soon concurred. For those of us who take great pleasure in wheeling a good car down a good road, things looked very grim indeed. The founder of a company that made AV (autonomous vehicle) hardware even went so far as to politely inform Hagerty CEO McKeel Hagerty: “I am very sorry, but I am going to put your company out of business.”
Having listened thousands of times to the 1981 Rush song Red Barchetta, which was visually imagined in this YouTube video, I was well aware of a future vision where cars were outlawed. As much as I loved driving and cars, I could also see the potential benefits of robot drivers, namely fewer fatal crashes and potentially less congestion. I also know that you can’t stop technology, no matter how much I wish my kids didn’t have smartphones.
Over its 40-year history, Hagerty’s always fostered the love of cars, and we knew we were perfectly positioned to carry the torch. Cars and driving matter. Around 2016, McKeel and Soon Hagerty restated the company’s purpose: To save driving and car culture for future generations. Boom. That didn’t mean we advocated the fool’s errand of stopping new technology. Rather, we would be on the front lines of ensuring that car enthusiasts who wanted to drive would always be able to do so.
Thus began our regular drumbeat celebrating cars, driving, and the folks who love them. To illustrate how cars positively benefited people’s lives, we started a video series called “Why I Drive.” The May/June 2018 issue of Hagerty Drivers Club magazine—get future issues by joining here—investigated possible future AV scenarios and suggested the techno-hype might be just that: hype. McKeel and I traveled the country, hosting seminars with industry leaders to get a sense of the technology and make the case for the preservation of driving. To emphasize our position and philosophies, we even wrote a book, Never Stop Driving, a Better Life Behind the Wheel, and later added an audio version. The reviews have been enormously positive, so give it a read or listen this summer.
This newsletter and the Never Stop Driving podcast are also part of our strategy to continually advocate for drivers. We are not alone in our campaign; writer and philosopher Matt Crawford published a book in 2020 called Why We Drive: Toward a Philosophy of the Open Road.
Meanwhile, the automotive industry dove into AVs. Ford and VW bankrolled Argo AI. GM invested billions in Cruise. Apple reportedly was working on an autonomous car. Uber built a self-driving unit. Google/Waymo was way ahead of everyone, and my heart fell when the powerful player unveiled a Playskool-like autonomous pod.
The tide has definitely shifted, the AV hype machine grinding to a brief halt when an Uber prototype struck and killed a pedestrian in 2018, a tragedy that highlighted a major question: In an accident, who’s responsible? The driver or the car? Last year, we learned that, in this case, it was the driver. In the past two years, Argo AI shut down, GM slowed its investments in Cruise, and Musk’s repeated promises that true self-driving (known as Level 5) was months away came and went. And came and went.
Now, the automotive industry is again embracing cars that provoke emotion in drivers, passengers, and onlookers. Last fall, Chevy changed its tagline from “Find New Roads” to “Together Let’s Drive” which, I proudly note, is awfully close to Hagerty’s “Let’s drive together.” Toyota produced an animated series called Grip, where the bad guy makes autonomous cars and declares the era of self-driving is over. Ford CEO Jim Farley says Ford will also preserve the art of driving both on- and off-road. Sound familiar?
Furthermore, sports-car and Formula 1 racing have never been so flush with car-company dollars and fans. It’s like the world was jolted to embrace something—driving—that was taken for granted until it was threatened. And let’s not ignore the reality that autonomous technology proved to be far harder and costlier to develop than anyone predicted. It turns out that humans and robots don’t mix well, at least so far.
Technology will not stop its relentless progression, of course, and we can expect driver-assistance systems that offer more and more help behind the wheel. Waymo is now operating driverless fleets in San Francisco and Phoenix, and the technology will increasingly be deployed in congested urban areas. But I haven’t heard of anyone who still thinks driving will be outlawed in our lifetimes. Whew.
This is my last newsletter before a two-week summer break. I’m heading east to visit family in Vermont and upstate New York. I’ll be seeking out curvy roads with lush tree canopies, perfect for my 1990 Miata. I hope that you also enjoy some wheel time and feel the same satisfaction that more and more people recognize what we already knew: Driving matters.
There will be plenty of fresh Hagerty material to keep you informed and entertained in my absence. Bookmark hagerty.com/media and our YouTube channel and, of course, we’re on the social platforms, too!
Catch you in July!
Larry
P.S.: Your feedback and comments are welcome.
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Nice article, but I will take issue with one point. Red Barchetta is not about outlawing cars completely. It’s about replacing cars with behemoth “safe” vehicles, and the cars we love to drive being outlawed as “unsafe.” The result of which is sociopaths using those “safe” vehicles as weapons for hunting down smaller cars for sport. I’ve always felt that autonomous cars, while very interesting technology, cannot completely replace manually driven cars. However, in driving my Miata amongst F150s and Rams that rival semi tractors in height, length, and weight, along with 2.5 to 3 ton SUVs, I can relate to the Red Barchetta situation.
Larry, enjoy your summer break, it’s well deserved. Also, thanks for your weekly thoughts and updates. I’m always happy to see Hagarty appear in my inbox.
Thanks for reading Paul!
Larry!
Victory Lap indeed! Couple this with the sudden decline in interest in EV/Hybrid sales and I’m glad to be “of a certain age” where driving matters! I’m happy to be able to tell my friends “I told you so”, a view that was published in your alma mater C&D with the title (I think “our take, or “where we stand”). In it I found the kernel of why Autonomous won’t happen soon. Liability. Who IS the driver? Bring on the insurance company lawyers! Do the victims go after the car company? How about the SOFTWARE ENGINEERS!!! Woa! That’s an endless rabbit hole I’m glad they ran down!
For now my plan is to acquire 3-pedal cars – as many as I can afford. As the phrase goes, “they’ll have to pry the keys out of my cold dead hands” !!!
Drive on.
Steve
Enjoy your cars Steve!
Red Barchetta is about a boy going to his uncles farm outside the line. He goes to commit his weekly crime of driving a Red Barchetta. He is spotted by air cars Autonomous?
He then races them back top the farm losing them at a one lane bridge. Then he is dreaming back fires side at the farm. It was more about authority hunting down a person enjoying the drive as we do today.
This is not as far fetched as it sounds. Today we have part of cities we have to pay more to drive in or we have specific areas that are EV only.
The time can come with the Government telling us where we can travel, when you can travel and how fast you can travel. It will be all in the name of safety and in the name of environment all to control you and your movement.
I have driven the Tesla system. It world pretty much and with the advances in AI will move things even faster not always in a good way.
The next challenge will be who is responsible. If a car is going to hit a kid on a bike or go off a cliff. Who makes the call the driver or company programer. Do you try to find a new solution. Do you go off the clift with the computer or hit the kid. Then who is responsible if when there is a death. The company? Government?
I drive a small 2500 pound car. The small car vs large truck has always been there and it is my choice to drive the smaller car but it is also my responsibility in my choice of a small car. It is also the incentive to drive with more care. I did years ago hit a Dodge van and the space frame did the job of protecting me. The car is still on the road today.
Same with motorcycles. Physic have always been in play and they lose in any and all confrontations. But it is the riders choice for the risk. We need to keep this choice in our hands and not some old man or woman in DC.
Here is the official definition.
The song’s lyrics tell a story set in a future in which many classes of vehicles have been banned by a “Motor Law.” The narrator’s uncle has kept one of these now-illegal vehicles (the titular red Barchetta sports car) in pristine condition for roughly 50 years and is hiding it at his secret country home, which had been a farm before the Motor Law was enacted. Every Sunday, the narrator commits a “weekly crime” of sneaking out to this location and going for a drive in the countryside. During one such drive, he encounters the equivalent of the police in the form a “gleaming alloy air car” followed soon by a second, which culminates into a fantastic car chase until the narrator drives across a one-lane bridge that is too narrow for the air cars. The song ends with the narrator returning safely to his uncle’s farm.
We all need to read the lyrics. What was once science fiction may be fact if not confronted.
We all may need to commit a weekly crime to love our hobby.
Larry, I’ve enjoyed your writing for years. You had me in this one when you referenced Rush and your Miata, since I love both. Neil Peart certainly loved his sports cars as much as music and wrote about the connection. My first car was a ’77 Honda Civic with a manual and I still drive stick every day – in a ’15 GTI and ’09 Miata. I want to be engaged in driving not a passenger. Enjoy your vacation.
Thanks Blair. I had a 2016 GTI which is a high water mark for the model. I miss it!
My 1975 FIAT 124 Spider, 1986 Porsche 928S, 1996 Porsche 993 Carrera 4, 2004 Mercedes SLK 350, 2004 Mitsubishi Colt (yup), 2010 Jeep Wrangler and 20015 Alfa Romeo 4C all agree with you, as do I! Bravo.
My wife and I recently acquired a new “nanny” car. We love the car but the driver assistant package is too much. You can turn most of it off but on a recent trip to the dump with a small trailer, the car wouldn’t allow us to back up and maneuver. We could back up straight but even a slight jack knife maneuver would cause the car to rapidly brake. The setting was not an override button on the dash but buried deep in the cars settings. The car has three rear cameras but doesn’t know the difference between a trailer and a passing vehicle. I just hope the car doesn’t decide to swerve into a ditch if a possum runs out in front of it.
Yeah, the button issue is a such a pain. Oh and the different icons used. What do they mean? I recently was in LA and I drove a Mercedes with a cruise control that brake, turned, and accelerated on the highway. In the LA traffic, that often grinds to a halt with no reason, I liked it.
I love driving my car. I own a Challenger SRT and would never drive any other car. Driving my car is my favorite thing to do. What would be the point of a road trip if you were not driving.
Please consider a reformat. Double spacing & 6-8 words per line is a hard pill…..
Safe travels and thanks for another great write-up with great links..
Good column, Enjoy UpState New York we enjoy the 1000 Island region, every summer in our Honda S2000. Will there be a Hagerty corral at the 24 Hours of Daytona in 2025?
Well said Larry. Bravo!
Short and sweet, you hit every marker and crossed every “T”!!!! Thanks!
My wife and I are leaving Dallas on July 5 for Colorado in our CT4V Blackwing. One of the many highlights will be driving CO 306 between Buena Vista and Taylor Park. Long live mountain roads and the 6-speed stick!
Enjoy that drive!