Ken Freund
I’ve always been crazy about anything with an engine.
After years of pestering my father, he finally let me drive a car - at nine years of age. At 14 I taught myself to drive stick shifts and then how to ride motorcycles. Later, I also learned to fly and have had my pilot’s license for 22 years. Working on, riding, driving, restoring, photographing and writing about all these wonderful machines has always been my passion. I've been an auto vo-tech and smog test instructor, certified master technician, vehicle inspector, shop foreman, service manager, service director, and shop owner. Over the years I’ve owned about 35 bikes and 50 cars and trucks, a lot of which I wish I had never sold!
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Will High Technology Kill Our Love Of Trucks?
Vehicle owners often develop a strong bond with their vehicles, and the TDR is a great example of this phenomenon. One of the things that seems to draw owners affection is the “character” or personality” of a vehicle, be it car or truck, motorcycle or boat or airplane. Simplicity often appears to be a factor, where the user can really understand how it operates and feel the experience with direct inputs and feedback. For example, owners love Model T Fords, VW bugs, Piper Cubs, vintage motorcycles and of course Dodge diesel pickups.
Creature comforts and amenities can be nice, but are we in danger of being overwhelmed by them, to the detriment of our bonding with the vehicle? Technology is making our vehicles more and more complex, and changing how we use them.
Drive-by-wire, automatic braking, self-parking, remote starting, etc. already exist. Future vehicles will be even more packed with high-tech communication and entertainment devices and gadgets. Soon, cars and trucks will communicate with each other and automatically download road information to help avoid collisions and traffic jams. This technology will eliminate much of the driver’s need to focus on the road and interact with the vehicle. In fact, vehicles which drive themselves are expected to be common in the United States within 30 years. But while our vehicles control themselves more and more, there is a potential that owners will lose the love of driving and working on them. It seems like we’re headed for a future where sealed hoods and impossibly complicated systems will have us driving around like zombies talking to each other on cell phones, and not having a clue about our vehicles. Hmmm, maybe we’re almost there already….
What do you think about this?
