Cars Were Supposed To Be Fun.

The funny, sceptical story of how the car became a computer, a data source and part of a technological vision reaching all the way to Mars.

Big Tech saw data.One man saw Mars.

Cars were supposed to be fun. You turned a key, chose a road and went somewhere. Then the automobile discovered accounts, permissions, subscriptions, software updates and the extraordinary commercial usefulness of knowing where its owner has been.

This is not a rant against Tesla. It is an argument about what Tesla got brilliantly right, what the old industry was too complacent to see and what car culture risks losing when software takes the wheel.

Kindle Paperback Apple Books

Amazon USKindle Paperback

Author: Ashley Drury
Publisher: Auto Culture Society
Paperback: 278 pages, 6 x 9 in, black ink on cream paper
ISBN: 9798191976778 (paperback)
Ebook: Kindle and Apple Books

12Chapters

278Paperback pages

3Editions: Kindle, paperback, Apple Books

Contents

Twelvechapters.

From the last time cars were simple to a future that is amazing and slightly terrifying, with a timeline, a glossary and the notes and sources at the back.

Intro
The Last Time Cars Were Simple
01
The Last Time Cars Were Normal
02
Nobody Needed a Car That Could Do 0 to 60 in Three Seconds
03
Tesla Did Not Enter the Car Industry
04
The Day the Car Became a Computer
05
The Smartphone With Wheels Problem
06
The Petrolhead Versus the Algorithm
07
Tesla Was Never Really About Cars
08
The Car as a Robot Teacher
09
When Every Manufacturer Became Tesla
10
The Death of the Sunday Drive
11
Why Enthusiasts Will Save the Car
12
The Future Is Amazing and Slightly Terrifying
End
Conclusion: The Car Is Still Human

At the back: a timeline, From the Patent Motor Car to the Software Defined Vehicle; a glossary, The Terms Cars Now Expect You to Know; notes and sources; and selected primary sources.

The argument

Who is the modern car really being built for?

A fast, funny and sceptical journey through automotive history, electric ambition, connected car data, subscription logic and the slow transformation of the car into a device. It asks:

Why did every control become a screen?
Why does ownership now need an account?
Why does a parked car require an update?
Has progress quietly confused capability with improvement?

Tesla won the argument that the car had to change. The traditional industry should copy its urgency, but it should not copy its homework.

From the book

Questions

Beforeyou buy.

Who wrote Cars Were Supposed To Be Fun?

Ashley Drury. It is published by Auto Culture Society.

Is it a book against Tesla?

No. It is an argument about what Tesla got brilliantly right, what the old industry was too complacent to see and what car culture risks losing when software takes the wheel.