• No one knows exactly when the vehicles we drive will finally wrest the steering wheel from us. • But the age of the autonomous automobile isn’t some sudden Big Bang. • It’s more of a slow crawl, one that started during the Roosevelt administration. • And that’s Theodore, not Franklin. • And not in America, but in Spain, by someone you’ve probably never heard of. • His name was Leonardo Torres Quevedo, a Spanish engineer born in Santa Cruz, Spain, in 1852.

Article Summaries:

  • Leonardo Torres Quevedo, a Spanish engineer, pioneered the first wireless remote‑control system, the Telekino, in the early 1900s. Patented in Spain, France and the United States, the Telekino used electromagnetic waves to send signals to a receiver that powered electromagnets and a servomotor, allowing Quevedo to issue 19 distinct commands to a vehicle without a physical cable. In 1904 he demonstrated the system by controlling a three‑wheeled vehicle from nearly 100 feet away, marking the earliest recorded instance of a vehicle being remotely operated. Though the Spanish Crown withheld funding, Quevedo’s work laid foundational concepts for later autonomous automotive technology.
  • The article traces the origins of autonomous driving back to the early 20th century, highlighting Spanish engineer Leonardo Torres Quevedo (1852‑1936). In 1904 he used his patented “Telekino” system-an early wireless remote‑control-to steer a three‑wheeled vehicle from nearly 100 feet away, marking the first recorded radio‑controlled car. Quevedo’s Telekino, derived from Greek terms for distance and movement, transmitted electromagnetic signals to a receiver that powered servomotors, allowing 19 distinct commands without a physical cable. Though he later demonstrated the system on boats and torpedoes, limited funding from the Spanish Crown prevented commercial development, illustrating how the autonomous car era began as a gradual, incremental advance rather than a sudden breakthrough.

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