Whatever happened to flying cars and other promises?

Are driverless cars hurtling around technology’s next corner? Not really, though not for lack of trying. The first quasi-autonomous car dates back more than 30 years. It was the brainchild of a German academic, Ernst Dickmanns, who called his computer on wheels Versuchsfahrzeug für autonome Mobilität und Rechnersehen (test vehicle for autonomous mobility and computer vision). Hardly catchy. But in 1994 his Mercedes-Benz ferried dignitaries from Charles de Gaulle airport near Paris. On the motorway the computer took control, and it hit top speeds of 130kph (80mph). Three decades later, Alphabet’s Waymo robotaxis can only dream of such va-va-voom. They are confined to the streets of Los Angeles, Phoenix and San Francisco.