I have always wonder what the deal is with this photo. It is clearly a 1958 Chevrolet Impala convertible, however it is definitely different in some ways to the factory models. At first glance, I thought just a marketing photo from 58 but then you realize this isn't an ordinary 58 Chevy! Here is a list of questions my curious mind is wondering: Why a joystick? Where's the steering wheel? Where's the gas pedal? Is that a brake pedal? Where's the emergency brake? What are the buttons that are in place of the shift indicator? Where those factory bucket seats? Are there anymore pictures of this car? What ever happened to this car? Any insight is welcome! Thank you!
Pretty sure those steel back bucket seats became an option through 1961, I've seen a few Cadillacs with them, although they're rare and valuable today. Not sure if these are exactly the same seats or just a prototype for that. The joystick by definition should not need an accelerator, and it does have a brake pedal, but I agree, it's very interesting. The joystick would have to incorporate steering and throttle control, and it's strange they'd set that up on the left hand side of the driver, so you'd have to step over it to enter on the driver's side. Either that, or the control is mounted to the door (kinda looks like it in the pic) which is even more odd. Not autonomous, which would mean it didn't require a human driver. But it is interesting, I'd like to hear more about it myself.
The ability to maintain a lane by following a wire in the road, and rudimentary radar for safe follow distance has exited since just after WWII. The problem has always been, and still is, the cost. For the old systems, all road infrastructure would need to be upgraded. For modern stuff, the real, actually autonomous stuff, in the passenger car version costs $200k per vehicle.
The glimpse of the passenger seat shows the upholstery exclusive to the 58 Impala. The company did a lot to show it was the future.
When you have an extra year before you release your new year model why not play around with it? Not saying that’s why GM did this to the 58 but surely is something to wonder about.
Joystick mounted on the drivers' door panel makes a lot of sense. Both for comfort n accessibility. Brake pedal for emergency-ingrained-reactions. Not that a steering wheel is a good thing to stop you from hitting the w/s, but that dash looks like it'd be a boon for the dental industry. Not sure even a 3-point harness would help there. I still like looking & reviewing, the "future-looks" from the later 50's. & sorta wondering... "What-if"? They all seemed to come up w/the same ideas, just slightly different twists; - although just how many different ways can the same thing be done semi-practically? Marcus...
One of those holy grails that's been around forever. Why anyone would want that is beyond me. One of those just because you can ideas. (IMHO)
Seems to me there would be a lot of interest seeing as better that half the people on the road are far more interested in their phones than driving.
Not that it can be a topic of discussion here, but that it is a benefit for classic and custom car drivers, CAS (Collision Avoidance Systems) and ADAS (Advanced Driver Assistance Systems) are already in many late-model vehicles. As they filter down into the general US fleet, it will become increasingly difficult to get hit by one so equipped. If anything, this will help protect our us, and our cars and trucks.
So the moron without the system rear ends the vehicle carrying the moron making use of said system which has stopped or braked aggressively
Yes! Those seats look like 58-59 GM bucket seats used in Pontiacs and Cadillacs. I don't believe they were available on Chevrolets except on this one concept car.
& a short couplea yrs later = turbine, hover & then: jet cars. Both those that ran on the ground, & those capable of flight. OH MY! & I'm *still* waiting... . OOOOOO, need I mention Atomic-powered, too. Jeez, talk about fast, & longtime 'twixt refueling. *Still* waiting... . Marcus...
Except now it works. It worked 3-years ago. My rides to, and from work had no driver, on the streets of San Francisco, during rush hours.
Hello, An autonomous car perhaps is a wrong choice, if it is drive by wire. By definition, autonomous is: "...Independent and having the power to make your own decisions." Wow, sound like us as seniors in college. Ready to make some independent decisions… our own choices leading us to where we are today. In reading about the drive by wire, does not seem autonomous. It sounds like the Disneyland Autopia cars. Except the later versions were no longer autonomous, but “drive by rail.” When the park first opened, we could all drive the cars everywhere on the roads. Some ended up elsewhere due to not being a driver or having the ability to control a moving car. So, the later versions took over and the drive by rail was developed for safety. We always liked bucket seats, due to the almost unlimited adjustments to each seat per driver/passenger. We never told our friend that his sporty car bucket seats were the best... just in a different car. But, the Detroit Factory decided that the one angle back was the best for all of the masses. The seats were nice looking and would have made our black 58 Impala a very cool interior. We adjusted to the factory seats as teenagers given no other choice. Those were not factory options on any 58 Impala, but the bucket seats Super Sport version a few years later, 1961, opened up a whole new approach to interior seating. 1958 Pontiac 1959 Pontiac Pontiac designers seemed a little farther along and the seats looked rather cool. Jnaki When I was taking photos of custom cars, a friend invited me to his house in the Eastern L.A. basin. He had his hands on a lowered custom car with some modern features. A clear bubble top and when the top was lifted up, the interior looked like the Jetsons space vehicle. Bucket seats, and no steering wheel. There, next to the driver in the center console was a stick similar to the one in the photo. There was a brake pedal, but forward on the stick accelerated and backward was reverse. The side to side movement was turning. That was the most confusing situation that was offered to me in the safe parking lot of a neighborhood park. I got the car to move forward and steer left or right, but it felt as if I was not in control. When I approached a tree in an island of the lot. I just stopped 10 feet away before doing anything crazy. It was very hard to drive that car. Plus, when the bubble top was down, it was blistering hot despite the A/C. I took a lot of photos, but no magazine would touch it with a 10 foot pole. Not a hot rod, not a real custom car, just an experiment were the answers to my story and photo outlay. So, my friend was the recipient of all of my photos, there is not one left for me to relive that harrowing experience in trying to drive that stick steering car. YRMV But, bucket seats in my 1958 Impala?…never happened in custom approaches or from the factory options.
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