Tesla may be widely associated with its very public quest to automate driving, but the origin of self-driving cars goes back to before the Silicon Valley startup even existed. A Mercedes drove autonomously on public highways for 1,000 miles between Germany and Denmark—sometimes at autobahn speeds—back in 1995.
Before that, in 1987, Ernst Dickmanns’ VaMoRs research vehicle drove itself down an unopened stretch of autobahn using cameras, onboard computers, and automated control of the steering, throttle, and brakes. It reached 60 mph, covered more than 12 miles, and did so with less computing power than your smartwatch has.
