Photo: The Autopia theme park attraction.
When I was eight, my parents took us to one of the most family-friendly places in America — Disneyland in Anaheim, California — where I experienced the thrill of driving my own car on the Autopia freeway. The car had real gas pedals and a functional steering wheel. In my memory, the car was a red Porsche convertible, but this was a long time ago, and I might be imagining things. I also recall, I was a better driver than my sister.
The thing I remember most, however, was breathing exhaust fumes. Nothing can conjure up the feeling of a NASCAR racetrack like the smell of exhaust.
Back then, the attraction was sponsored by Atlantic Richfield Company, a corporation that likewise appreciated exhaust fumes.
Autopia was one of the original attractions when Disneyland opened on July 17, 1955 — one of the rides in ‘Tomorrowland’ — and at the time, it was meant to ‘preview’ America’s yet-unrealized multi-lane highway infrastructure of the future.
Tomorrow was not long in arriving, however. After Dwight Eisenhower became president in 1953, his administration developed a proposal for an interstate highway system, resulting in the passage of the Federal-Aid Highway Act of 1956.
In the two decades following the 1956 Highway Act, the new ‘Interstate’ freeway system plowed through urban neighborhoods and displaced one million people… and Disney’s Autopia gradually became less about the future and more about the present. As a result, the ride’s continued inclusion in the ‘Tomorrowland’ section of the park has become somewhat questionable.
But reportedly, Autopia is still thrilling children, and now features vehicles made by the attraction’s new sponsor: Honda.
And now I hear the attraction will be getting a planet-friendly upgrade.
Electric vehicles.
Why did this take so long to happen?
Disney announced earlier this month that it will phase out Autopia cars powered by old fashioned gasoline engines. Kids will instead get their initial driving experience in a miniature Tesla or Prius.
Or more likely, I suppose, a miniature Honda Prologue — the company’s newly-released all-electric vehicle. (The development of future customers makes for a healthy future bottom line.)
In a statement to the LA Times, Disney spokesperson Jessica Good said, “As the industry moves toward alternative fuel sources, we have developed a road map to electrify this attraction and are evaluating technology that will enable us to convert from gas engines in the next few years.”
Of course, “in the next few years” could mean anything. It could mean 2050, for all we know.
Ingrid Malmgren, with the electric vehicle advocacy group Plug In America, understands the hesitation around the transition to electric vehicles. Maybe Disney’s upgrade can help?
“Giving people the opportunity to try out these zippy little EVs in Autopia has the potential to really demystify the technology — for people to see how fast it is, how quiet it is,” Malmgren said.
Not too fast, hopefully. These are children, folks, driving their first car.
The day following the Autopia announcement, Disney CEO Bob Iger defeated activist investors vying for seats on the company’s board of directors. One of them, billionaire Nelson Peltz, had criticized the company for being too ‘woke’. I’d hate to think the term ‘woke’ is now being applied to tiny electric vehicles, but that’s entirely possible. We’re living in a crazy world lately.
And speaking of crazy, I see where Elon Musk just announced an August 8 unveiling of the Tesla RoboTaxi.
I’m not sure how I feel about a RoboTaxi. I’ve always enjoyed talking to the taxi drivers, when I visit a strange city. The drivers that speak English, I mean.
Maybe you will be able to have an intelligent conversation with a RoboTaxi? I sort of doubt it.
What this robotic development portends for Autopia, we have to wonder. If our future cars are going to drive themselves, Disney is going to have to rethink this whole doggone Autopia upgrade.
Underrated writer Louis Cannon grew up in the vast American West, although his ex-wife, given the slightest opportunity, will deny that he ever grew up at all.