Jason Torchinsky - Robot, Take the Wheel: The Road to Autonomous Cars and the Lost Art of Driving

Robot, Take the Wheel: The Road to Autonomous Cars and the Lost Art of Driving

Copyright 2019 by Jason Torchinsky

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Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data is available on file.

Print ISBN: 978-1-94806-226-8

Ebook ISBN: 978-1-948062-27-5

Printed in the United States of America.

Cover and interior design by Jason Torchinsky and Rain Saukas.

Chapter opener illustrations by Jason Torchinsky.

For Sally, because I love her more than anything. Even all the cars. And Otto, because he's a little kook and I love him too.

Also, thanks to everyone at Jalopnik for being great.

Foreword by

Why would an automobile dealer be asked to write a foreword for a book about autonomous vehicles, which some people say will cause an automobile industry apocalypse? Great question. I think it has something to do with the fact that Jason is a little nuts and we have a lot in common, like our love of unusual cars and obscure automotive history, and our interest in discussing where the automotive industry is heading. While many car guys and gals fear that the end is near for driving and car culturebelieving that robot taxis will soon take over our roadsthe truth is that there is an incredibly exciting future in the autonomous car world that awaits all of usautomotive enthusiasts and haters alike.

A little background about myself: I grew up in Los Angeles and my roots here are deep. My great-grandfather moved to LA in 1879, so you can say Im a native. LA is an interesting place. Someone once said that God took heaven and hell, mixed them together, and called it Los Angeles. The city definitely has elements of both, especially for a driver. There is nothing more intoxicating than driving a convertible with the top down on the Pacific Coast Highway, or more thrilling than driving a sports car through the twisting roads of Mulholland Highway. But theres also LA trafficsoul-crushing, mind-numbing, blood pressure-spiking traffic. In LA we dont measure by distance (I had no idea how far places were before using the navigation app Waze), but by how much time it takes to get somewhere, which is heavily influenced by the time of day youre driving there.

As far as my work background, I am probably one of the few people who went to college to become a car salesperson. I was lucky enough to grow up with the ultimate automotive-influenced upbringing, at least in the car dealer sense. My father started at Galpin Ford in 1953 as a salesperson. He got promoted and grew Galpin Ford to be the number one volume Ford dealership in the world. He achieved this by caring for customers and employees, working hard, being honest, and being creative, looking for fun, exciting ways to exceed customers expectations. One of the ways he did this was customizingor as we call it, Galpinizingvehicles. In 1952, we built our first Galpin Custom from a brand new convertible at the dealership. It was shown at the Autorama, named a Top 10 Custom of the Year, and was featured on the cover of Motor Trend magazine in June 1953.

While Galpin has done all kinds of aftermarket customizing, racing, performance, off-roading, and more, one thing that gained us particular fame was helping to pioneer and launch the conversion van. In fact, many people credit Galpin for starting the conversion van industry. With conversion vans we werent just building regular vans (it was the 1970s after all), but ones with wild interiors and themes like Madam Frenchysa provocative design complete with striking red fleur-de-lis wallpaper, as well as a love seat, chandelier, and fireplace. The conversion vans were crazy and fun, and their sales went through the roofwith the addition of the conversion vans our van sales went up 500 percent.

It was an interesting time for me. At the shop, I got to hang out with the guys who were designing the wild vehicles. My mother, Jane, an interior designer and businessperson who worked for increasingly sophisticated buyers, even helped with the designs. But the conversion vans proved to be a passing trend, and by the 2000s they were all but a memory.

The first car I customized was one my grandmother willed meher old 1965 Mercedes 220SE (the four-door kind, not the cool one)and I loved it. Later, I had the joy of launching Galpins customizing division, Galpin Auto Sports, and was then invited to join Fords Product Committee, which looks behind the scenes of product development. This committee has strong input on upcoming products in the near and long term. Many times I witnessed a car go from a sketch to full production. It was something to behold.

As a member of the Product Committee I heard about autonomous vehicles pretty early, and since then Ive had numerous conversations on the future of autonomous vehicles and how they will impact society. This is not just related to customers and drivers, but the entire automotive industry and business world as well. Could automated vehicles be the next great threat, the one that finally knocks car dealers out of business? Many people think car manufacturers wont survive the automated car revolution, and when I first began considering this, I had to do some real soul-searching. Should I walk away from the business and my passion, or should I double down against an industry change, from people driving cars theyre passionate about to everyone riding around in soulless robo-taxis?

The truth is that I dont believe it has to be one or the other. As an enthusiast and someone whose career is on the line, I can honestly say that I am excited about our autonomous automotive future.

As consumers, autonomous vehicles will bring us choices. Taxis and public transportation will be revolutionized. The car business and dealers are going to need to adapt. Im geeked to focus back on what could prove to be the perfect automated vehicle: the van. I cant wait to get back in the conversion van businessthis time using them as robo-taxis. Some vehicles will have both full (human-controlled) driving and autonomous modes. You could spend a whole day driving your heart out, and then let the car take you home in rush hour traffic while you relax and catch up on things. Thats taking the heaven and hell out of LA driving and making the best out of both.

What I know about the world of automated cars, after all my studying and peek behind the curtain, leads me to know that Jason is the best predictor yet on the uncertain autonomous future. Hes informed about the car industry and points out what he doesnt know (unlike so many industry experts and newcomers, who make claims without factual support), and considers fascinating new opportunities that autonomous vehicles could bring in the not-so-distant future.