From Hollerith to HTML5: the inevitable rise of the programmable car

Over the years, the auto industry has produced many similar technology visionaries. Mind you, visionary is probably the wrong word. Many of these people didn't simply envision the future; they tried to build it. All too often, however, the technology needed to make their ideas work was still in its infancy — or simply didn't exist. For evidence, consider the ITER AVTO. Introduced in 1930, this dashboard mounted navigation system used maps printed on rolls of paper. These maps were connected by a cable to the speedometer and would scroll forward in proportion to the car's speed. Basically, a great idea hampered by the tech of its time: And then there's the 1969 Buick Century Cruiser, pictured, an autonomous concept car that used punched cards to program the car's destination. The driver would insert a card encoded with a destination and an electronic highway centre (whatever that was) would then take over and guide the car to where it was programmed to go. The car was never intended to be sold, of course. To be commercially viable, it would have required technologies that simply weren't available in 1969. But I think the Century Cruiser represents a watershed concept: that you can use software to control or enhance a car's behaviour. The Century Cruiser may have used Hollerith cards, but it presaged vehicles that, in a few short years, would use programming languages like C to control ECUs and antilock brakes. From there, it was only a matter of time before cars would use software technologies like HTML5 to deliver everything from weather reports to smartphone integration. The software path was set, even if no one realised it. Author profile: Paul Leroux is PR manager for QNX Software Systems.