I volunteered to attend The Future of the Automobile Conference, sponsored by the Petersen Automotive Museum and the Los Angeles World Affairs Council, so that I could report to NMA on what technological and political schemes are being cooked up for drivers.

I walked in bright and early to avoid Los Angeles’s notorious traffic congestion. This was my first time at the museum. Naturally, I photographed some of the cars there. One, a Porsche 917 called “Unfair Advantage,” had a 1500 horsepower engine that would have been at home in a World War II fighter. (I won’t get a chance to drive the car, but I once had a chance to fly in a P-51C Mustang with a similar V-12 engine – you can really feel the power!).

During the first panel, Terry Karges, Executive Director of the Petersen Museum, stated that autonomous vehicles (AVs) are “not taboo, but welcomed here” – a painful statement for those of us who like to drive our own cars. To read more of this article, click here.