Sat nav - without a satellite - in 1971? | Tomorrow's World | Retro Tech | BBC Archive

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  • Опубліковано 20 гру 2021
  • Michael Rodd demonstrates an extraordinary new invention that could transform the way drivers negotiate the roads forever. A nifty control unit reads information from the car's milometer and relays instructions to the driver using pre-recorded phrases stored on a cassette tape. With such clear, precise navigation, might this spell the end for unwieldy paper maps and stopping to ask unreliable pedestrians?
    This clip is from Tomorrow's World, originally broadcast 15 October, 1971.
    You have now entered the BBC Archive, an audiovisual time machine that will transport you back to the golden age of TV. Let us educate, entertain and enlighten you with classic clips from the BBC vaults.
    Make sure you subscribe so that you never miss a single stop on our amazing journey through the BBC Archive - ua-cam.com/users/BBCArchive?...
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  • @commandert5
    @commandert5 2 роки тому +3830

    This has to be one of the first ever "gps told me to turn into a river" jokes. I wonder how someone seeing that for the first time must have felt

    • @alsmith20000
      @alsmith20000 2 роки тому +146

      To be honest, people probably drove into rivers, back when there were just maps.

    • @Dan23_7
      @Dan23_7 2 роки тому +65

      No lies mate at our work place they had an agency driver a couple years ago, he can opened his van with a 9ft bridge…. Our vans are merc Luton’s which are 10’5”
      He blamed the sat nav 😂😂

    • @colors6692
      @colors6692 2 роки тому +10

      It's not GPS!🤦🏿‍♀️

    • @Dan23_7
      @Dan23_7 2 роки тому +27

      @@colors6692 it’s TPS 😂

    • @commandert5
      @commandert5 2 роки тому +37

      @@colors6692 That's...not...the point...🤦‍♂️

  • @grinsko6741
    @grinsko6741 2 роки тому +3371

    He was recently spotted still driving aimlessly around Chatham, having encountered several more roadworks.

  • @xboxmods
    @xboxmods 2 роки тому +231

    0:59 “Yet here I am, completely alone in the car”
    The Cameraman: 👁👄👁

  • @Georgije2
    @Georgije2 2 роки тому +61

    When I was a kid I thought those little arrows blinking next to the steering wheel before the driver took a turn were a navigation system telling them where to go.

    • @googleuser2609
      @googleuser2609 Рік тому +14

      when i was a kid, i used to think that when i looked up to the sky and clouds were moving.....that I was actually witnessing Earth's rotation.

    • @PrinceAndrewFucksKids
      @PrinceAndrewFucksKids 4 місяці тому

      Bmw's don't have them lol

    • @Cooke125
      @Cooke125 3 місяці тому

      @@googleuser2609the clouds are moving tho

    • @fluchterschoen
      @fluchterschoen Місяць тому +1

      You could be joking but I'm sure you're serious - kids think like this and it's adorable. Around 1975/1976, when I was aged four or five, my dad bought his first ever brand new car. His previous car, a 1960s Morris Oxford, broke its rear axle and went to autoheaven. Our new car was a Skoda, P plate, and it had front seat belts, with the same type of red release button you see today.
      My brothers and I had never seen these before and excitedly asked my dad what the red buttons were for. He kidded on he wasn't sure, and speculated that maybe they were "self destruct buttons". To me as a five year old this made perfect, but terrifying, sense! Cartoons and films often had the "big red button" or "this message will self destruct" thing going on...I remember being scared that my dad might inadvertently press one of these self-destruct buttons, and made him promise me that he'd be careful when he was in the car on his own (without me and my brothers to keep vigil and issue reminders of the ever-present-danger).

  • @gdogg3710
    @gdogg3710 2 роки тому +2071

    I love anything like this, where someone has clearly had the right idea, but they’ve had it at a time before the necessary technology exists to make it a viable commercial product…

    • @nfullenwider
      @nfullenwider 2 роки тому +148

      There is a tragic irony to knowing they were right, just not right then.

    • @Pandaxtor
      @Pandaxtor 2 роки тому +71

      Same thing happened with machine learning. That scientist was mocked for suggesting that machine learning is practical.

    • @godfrey_of_america
      @godfrey_of_america 2 роки тому +10

      I bet some American was the one to make billions on the idea.

    • @gdogg3710
      @gdogg3710 2 роки тому +46

      @@godfrey_of_america well satnav is based on GPS, which is an ex US military system, so I would say so…

    • @xureality
      @xureality 2 роки тому +11

      @@godfrey_of_america that honour goes to Gary Burrell and Min Kao, owners of Garmin.

  • @HazelTheHare
    @HazelTheHare 2 роки тому +2299

    This is actually slightly better than I thought it would be. The monitoring box is pretty clever.

    • @jaymac7203
      @jaymac7203 2 роки тому +54

      But completely useless if you're not travelling from the place on the tape 😭😭😭 lol 😂

    • @crazychameleon123
      @crazychameleon123 2 роки тому +86

      @@jaymac7203 But it is said that it is for the likes of driving between the airport and hotels or training on bus routes. Admittedly very limited though.

    • @foxxster3565
      @foxxster3565 2 роки тому +14

      @@jaymac7203 or if you take a wrong turn .

    • @freethis222
      @freethis222 2 роки тому +8

      There must be some interesting operations on that PCB!

    • @straightpipediesel
      @straightpipediesel 2 роки тому +25

      @@freethis222 It's pretty simple. It's basically 3 counters. It's a tone detector hooked up to a counter, which advances at a fast rate. A second counter adds odometer pulses and when it hits the scaling factor, it advances the distance counter (i.e. a scaler). When the distance and the tone counter equal, it plays the tape and resets.

  • @megacontroller2657
    @megacontroller2657 Рік тому +136

    The camera quality is absolutely phenomenal for 1971

    • @JJsAutomotive
      @JJsAutomotive Рік тому +12

      ...not that the footage is digitally restored and maybe enhanced. 🤷‍♂

    • @Briggie
      @Briggie Рік тому +45

      It was probably filmed on film reel and has been rescanned in modern resolutions since then.

    • @noahtorocalzado
      @noahtorocalzado Рік тому +3

      VHS and Betamax came out in 1970 and 1976 respectively, and before the eighties in Europe they were not paid much attention, not even by television companies. Surely this video has been digitized directly from a professional videotape, with much higher quality than domestic tapes, which in PAL format (european colour encoding system) records at 625 lines, usable 576 lines at 25fps (in USA uses NTSC, 480 lines at 29,97fps) and there are professional tapes that reach 4K, such as movies, that's why many times they release very old movie remasters at a very good quality.

    • @AutPen38
      @AutPen38 Рік тому +12

      @@noahtorocalzado As it was filmed in the early '70s, it's highly unlikely that it was recorded on VHS or Beta. Those cheap formats were used on TW and other shows later ("Run VT" was a common saying on live shows once videotapes were widely available) but this was almost certainly filmed on high-resolution celluloid film stock (at least 35mm) much like a film/movie. The BBC archive contains thousands of dusty old reels of film that have been digitized for modern usage. (Much of the stuff recorded directly to VHS or similar got taped over, because it was a "throwaway" format. Real celluloid film gradually degrades - and is also a fire hazard - but it can last a long time in those old tins.)

    • @michaelturner4457
      @michaelturner4457 4 місяці тому +11

      They used 16mm film. Which the BBC often used for outside locations.

  • @matthewclark2123
    @matthewclark2123 2 роки тому +39

    There was a company in the United States that did this kind of thing in the 30s but without words on tape it was a guided map on a roll connected to the odometer

  • @diond1333
    @diond1333 2 роки тому +2128

    Next episode: The 1976 version of Google Streetview using only 8,673 Polaroids to plot a 1 mile route.

    • @Anmeteor9663
      @Anmeteor9663 2 роки тому +49

      Now that's a great idea for invention! Mind if I give it a go?

    • @TPK_MAKG
      @TPK_MAKG 2 роки тому +12

      @@Anmeteor9663 sure mate go on

    • @brettknoss486
      @brettknoss486 2 роки тому +46

      Prior to Opperation Overlord, English families were encouraged to provide the government Holliday photos taken on French beaches, so that they could be combined into one image for strategic descisions.

    • @straightpipediesel
      @straightpipediesel 2 роки тому +21

      The US military did that. 1978 with Laserdiscs: en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Aspen_Movie_Map

    • @grinsko6741
      @grinsko6741 2 роки тому +4

      Classic! Lol

  • @DJ-jv2gk
    @DJ-jv2gk 2 роки тому +1358

    My dad used one off these when I was 6 years old .
    He's still not home 😕

  • @lawrenceweston922
    @lawrenceweston922 2 роки тому +25

    Ah, I remember life before GPS ….
    Having the little compass attached to the dash, having a map-book in the glove compartment, plotting out your route the day before and writing it down.
    Can’t say I miss those days.

    • @sorenpx
      @sorenpx Рік тому +3

      I used to be a pizza delivery driver and relied on my map book entirely. I definitely DO miss those days. There's just something about doing things manually that feels better.

    • @halfbakedproductions7887
      @halfbakedproductions7887 Рік тому +2

      I remember the good old days of printing out directions from the internet. Do a return trip from AB and the return leg to A was different to the outbound leg to B. Never understood that.
      One disastrous journey I had in 2011 under that system was when I missed a junction I needed and went straight on instead - added 90 minutes to my journey by the time I sorted it all out. I eventually learned that missed junction was at a point just 15 minutes from my destination. The trouble with paper maps and directions is that they are f--k all use if you don't know where you are to begin with.

    • @sorenpx
      @sorenpx Рік тому +1

      @@halfbakedproductions7887 It may surprise you to learn that I still print directions out from the Internet. Call me old fashioned, but I prefer printing them, reading through them to get an idea of where all I'm going, and then following my printed sheet rather than using a GPS. Trying to follow a GPS in real-time feels confusing and chaotic to me. I only turn the GPS on in a situation like what you mentioned, where I've somehow gotten lost and just don't know where I am.

    • @baraitalo
      @baraitalo 4 місяці тому +1

      We used to send off to the aa and they'd send an amazing concertina'd typed directions

    • @nonegone7170
      @nonegone7170 4 місяці тому

      @@sorenpx Just preview the route you'll take in virtual reality with Google Earth, you'll know exactly what everything looks like beforehand.

  • @Truth1561
    @Truth1561 2 роки тому +69

    I used to love tomorrow’s world as a teenager back in the 70s. Our school was taken to see a ‘computer’ in 1974 that was literally the size of a large living room. I never dreamt I would ever myself own such technology- and be able to operate it 🤣

  • @JayTraversJT
    @JayTraversJT 2 роки тому +252

    Him: "yet here I am, completely alone in the car!"
    Cameraman: :(

    • @superposition2644
      @superposition2644 Рік тому +21

      The people who hold the cameras are always treated like they don't exist.

    • @yseson_
      @yseson_ Рік тому +7

      The cameraman is fine as he’s immortal so long as he’s holding the camera

    • @paulcooper3410
      @paulcooper3410 Рік тому +4

      The cameraman is invisible

    • @theupside7549
      @theupside7549 Рік тому +1

      Camera man needs smokes, 1 lap through shopping centre later and the whole days turn left/right next goes out the window 😂

    • @dylan3657
      @dylan3657 Рік тому

      😄

  • @DavidFraser007
    @DavidFraser007 2 роки тому +1032

    You'd need a 44foot shipping container full of cassettes to travel across Europe.

    • @monkmodemalik8225
      @monkmodemalik8225 2 роки тому +49

      The vw can haul it.

    • @Mortthemoose
      @Mortthemoose 2 роки тому +4

      😅😅👏👏

    • @krashd
      @krashd 2 роки тому +19

      The cassette only has phrases recorded on it so the same cassette can be used anywhere in the world. The directions come from the unit below the dashboard.

    • @rosstee
      @rosstee 2 роки тому +52

      @@krashd Not really, the device never actually knows where you are and even if it did, the cassette isn't random access so it couldn't play the correct directions at will (a CD would be slightly better, but still clunky).

    • @lePoMo
      @lePoMo 2 роки тому +21

      for a single trip across europe (one destination), you wouldn't need many more. It's the number of directions that count (not the distance), and directions get few and far between once you're on autoroutes/highways.

  • @Noone-of-your-Business
    @Noone-of-your-Business 2 роки тому +16

    3:13 - Back in the days when "self drive" cars still required a *human* driver.
    You had me stumped there for a second.

    • @SLGY
      @SLGY 4 місяці тому +1

      I was about to comment the same then found someone else had the same moment lol. "self driving? with that piece of sh...... ohhh! self-drive, as in you don't have someone of a lower class do it for you, lol"

  • @LePedant
    @LePedant Рік тому +3

    EVERY gas station had maps, back then. Reading a map is a lot easier than having to record a new tape with every trip.

  • @mattmclellan123
    @mattmclellan123 2 роки тому +794

    “There is one drawback, however”… lovely understatement

    • @CoPoint
      @CoPoint 2 роки тому +36

      But you have to admit, the end is downright clairvoyant - some drivers have the same problem today 😁...

    • @fabolvaskarika7940
      @fabolvaskarika7940 2 роки тому +2

      Probably there was not so much alterations of the roads, as wasn’t so extended the road networks also the number of the cars made it possible to turn around easily. But the level of technology of that time is incredible if you see in hindsight. Obviously it’s would not have a market this days, but it’s interesting how they developed and perfected during the time. It’s like this days AI robots, what already in use and look humanoid though most of the population not aware of their existence. If we looking back 50 years from now then it’s will be at least so amazing, and maybe we wish turn back time. Maybe one day that’s will be possible too, if already someone, somewhere didn’t do. 😆

    • @pascalcoole2725
      @pascalcoole2725 2 роки тому

      Well this scenaro still happens today

    • @Praise___YaH
      @Praise___YaH 2 роки тому

      HERE is Our Savior
      YaH The Heavenly FATHER HIMSELF was Who they Crucified for our sins, NOT jesus, and “HERE IS THE PROOF”
      From the Ancient Semitic Scroll:
      "Yad He Vav He" is what Moses wrote, when Moses asked YaH His Name (Exodus 3)
      Ancient Semitic Direct Translation
      Yad - "Behold The Hand"
      He - "Behold the Breath"
      Vav - "Behold The NAIL"

  • @explorer806
    @explorer806 2 роки тому +440

    A vast improvement on the gramophone version.

    • @steviewondek
      @steviewondek 2 роки тому +7

      😂But only for the audiophiles that one, those who really love a magical mystery tour without the Lucy.

    • @jdm65
      @jdm65 2 роки тому +7

      Real enthusiasts swear by their 78s, though most went over to 33s

    • @chaosnexxus9255
      @chaosnexxus9255 2 роки тому +14

      @@jdm65 Young whippersnapper! REAL enthusiasts still use wax cylinder navigation.

    • @MyTubeSVp
      @MyTubeSVp 2 роки тому +3

      LMAO

    • @glennmorris371
      @glennmorris371 2 роки тому +3

      That one was wind up of course.

  • @DevinDTV
    @DevinDTV 2 роки тому +17

    really puts into perspective how our technology now, less than 50 years later, is so incredible

    • @fosterfuchs
      @fosterfuchs Рік тому +2

      Not just this. If you went back to pre WWI, not much more than 100 years ago, how would you explain a smartphone to people then? The functions beyond making phone calls. The whole concept of apps would be impossible to explain. Even the technology behind making calls without a wire attached.

  • @Callummullans
    @Callummullans 2 роки тому +19

    Absolutely amazing feat of technology it’s quite easy to consider modern tech just arriving as is, it’s awesome to see how we got to where we are.

  • @jamesbyrne9312
    @jamesbyrne9312 2 роки тому +623

    What's amazing is that this really was an authentic glimpse of the future. Forgot the tech, just the experience of voice command driving. Like time travel.

    • @richardlee9825
      @richardlee9825 2 роки тому +2

      yup, just imAgine how far technology have gone since then.

    • @jamesbyrne9312
      @jamesbyrne9312 2 роки тому +1

      @@richardlee9825 yeah it's astounding

    • @BlackheathTownhouse
      @BlackheathTownhouse 2 роки тому +25

      Voice command driving predates this device - it's called the wife

    • @jamesbyrne9312
      @jamesbyrne9312 2 роки тому +3

      @@BlackheathTownhouse best comment, turn around where possible hahaha

    • @mersenne2486
      @mersenne2486 2 роки тому

      just like Assistants today. Which are not intelligent.

  • @97channel
    @97channel 2 роки тому +1009

    The impracticality of it, though. It's an understatement to say you'd need an absolute stack of those pre-recorded cassettes of tape for all the possible journeys you could take. And to have acquired a specific one in the first place, means that you had ample forward-planning time which could have been better spent simply looking at a map and scribbling down the directions.

    • @faithlesshound5621
      @faithlesshound5621 2 роки тому +66

      In those days you could write to the AA or RAC and receive back a typed route for the journey you had planned. Nowadays it's done in seconds online. It just needed to be a little more precise and transferred from print to audiocassette and it would sound like a modern SatNav.

    • @JesseP.Watson
      @JesseP.Watson 2 роки тому +38

      Was "cassettes of tape" which really jumped out at me on this film... Guessing it must be early after their introduction - perhaps why folks were going a bit wild looking for other things to use them for.
      It didn't actually suggest using them for general driving.

    • @martinhughes2549
      @martinhughes2549 2 роки тому +17

      @@JesseP.Watson Compact Cassette(s) where developed by Phillips and came out in 1963.

    • @JesseP.Watson
      @JesseP.Watson 2 роки тому +11

      @@martinhughes2549 I stand corrected. ...When did car cassette of tape players become widely available?

    • @martinhughes2549
      @martinhughes2549 2 роки тому +17

      @@JesseP.Watson The first car player was available from 1968, however I don't remember them being all that common until the 1980s. In the US 8 track cartridges where quite popular in cars. Before Dolby B and chrome tape; the audio quality of Compact cassettes was quite poor. ( edit: cassette players and radios whern't always standard,you had a place to install a radio if you wanted in your car)

  • @Concetta20
    @Concetta20 Рік тому +1

    That is so cool. I mean, we have this all in our phones now, but it was so clever how it sensed the car’s tire rotation for distance. We still have the signal ding.

    • @KD400_
      @KD400_ 6 місяців тому +1

      This is 1971. The early days of sat nav. Someone had to develop it. Credit to those guys. They paved the way for everything we have today

  • @JohnMiller-hu2dn
    @JohnMiller-hu2dn Рік тому +2

    How smooth the ride is in the old VW Beetle, even in this film it's already ten year's old, looks good apart from a missing hub cap.

  • @CorpoPsycho
    @CorpoPsycho 2 роки тому +433

    What amazes me more is how smooth those roads are back then

    • @st200ol
      @st200ol 2 роки тому +22

      It wasn't that long ago, cobbled streets had mostly stopped being built by the 1970's in Britain and we had tarmac by then too. :-)

    • @rowanaldean
      @rowanaldean 2 роки тому +133

      @@st200ol I think he's pointing out how crap they are now - like they haven't been resurfaced since then 😂

    • @breakingaustin
      @breakingaustin 2 роки тому +50

      Lot less cars using them by the 70's.. a fraction of the use now.

    • @drunkenhobo8020
      @drunkenhobo8020 2 роки тому +82

      @@breakingaustin They were a lot lighter too. Instead of that VW Beetle you'd have a Range Rover weighing more than three times as much. And probably still only carrying one person...

    • @VisiblyJacked
      @VisiblyJacked 2 роки тому +14

      So we're at the stage of marveling at how nice things were in the past...that shows a serious decline. Well we still have our handheld electronics I suppose

  • @gustavgnoettgen
    @gustavgnoettgen 2 роки тому +247

    It's surprising to me that the instructions sound very much like those today.
    Maybe there's not much alternatives, but it definitely feels modern.

    • @thefreedomguyuk
      @thefreedomguyuk 2 роки тому +5

      The user interface is similar. Directions by voice. Nothing else is similar.

    • @usernameonutube
      @usernameonutube Рік тому +2

      I mean people have had these ideas since the romantic era or longer were. It so different than people were even 10,000 years ago

    • @galahad6300
      @galahad6300 Рік тому +7

      I wouldn’t be surprised if the instructions of the casette was part of the basis for how Satnavs give us directions today. This navigation system got pretty darn close to what we have today.

    • @ianinkster2261
      @ianinkster2261 Рік тому +4

      That's because the communication needs haven't changed one bit. What's changes is the ability of machines to navigate.

    • @700gsteak
      @700gsteak Рік тому +2

      That just means that back then they had already perfected how instructions would sound best.

  • @jerryfacts9749
    @jerryfacts9749 Рік тому +3

    This system is genius. The start and end points must be perfect with no diversion from the route. It is restricted, if the driver goes off route it will be lost because the reference is internal only, and not external as like from GPS or radio navigation systems. Even though very limited, the system can work if used exactly right.

  • @PapercutzUksocial
    @PapercutzUksocial Рік тому +1

    Who would have thought it, this technology is one of the main driving force today in e commerce and in future, driver-less cars

  • @GrilloTheFlightless
    @GrilloTheFlightless 2 роки тому +64

    “Cassette of tape”. Love it!

    • @rosstee
      @rosstee 2 роки тому +2

      Literally!

    • @neodonkey
      @neodonkey 2 роки тому +4

      It's correct.

    • @andybunn5780
      @andybunn5780 2 роки тому +6

      Tape used to come on big ass reels, you know?

    • @doct0rnic
      @doct0rnic 2 роки тому +4

      Traveling in a Beetle of Volkswagen

    • @GrilloTheFlightless
      @GrilloTheFlightless 2 роки тому +6

      @@andybunn5780 I know. I remember them. I just thought it was rather quaint to hear “cassette of tape” when it’s been such a long time since anyone regularly called them that, especially considering they were more commonly called a cassette tape. Or cassette. Or just tape.

  • @otakububba8081
    @otakububba8081 2 роки тому +138

    I heard of someone giving directions using an Lynyrd Skynyrd cassette once, using the timing of the songs for when to turn. My favorite part was ‘Now if you get to ‘Free Bird’ you’ve gone too far.’

    • @hasoonnine
      @hasoonnine 2 роки тому +4

      I think I'm too young to get this joke

    • @violenceisfun991
      @violenceisfun991 2 роки тому +27

      @@hasoonnine its basically like telling someone "listen to this tape while you're driving, when it gets to track 6 or 7 take that turning, if it reaches track 8 you've missed the turning"

    • @craigjensen6853
      @craigjensen6853 2 роки тому +4

      HAD to be Indiana.

    • @jamesgizasson
      @jamesgizasson 2 роки тому +6

      Someone once said that if you drive the 40 through New Mexico, and start playing Weird Al's 'Albuquerque' as soon as you cross the city limit, by the time the song is finished, you're through the other side. X3

    • @boldandbrashcrafts727
      @boldandbrashcrafts727 2 роки тому +2

      @@jamesgizasson that's hilarious, and such a funny song too

  • @codaboi138
    @codaboi138 2 роки тому +14

    I love that some people actually figured out how to do this. The impracticallity of it aside, the fact that they figured out a way to do it before satellite is impressive. The fact that it wasn't practical makes it all the more interesting that designers came up with the idea in the first place.

    • @cigmorfil4101
      @cigmorfil4101 Рік тому +1

      Not completely.
      The first sat nav I used used dead reckoning with satellite correction - it worked wonderfully through tunnels, etc. This tape one is dead reckoning, but without the satellite correction - it just hopes that you've gone the specified distance in the correct direction.

    • @XBKLYN
      @XBKLYN Рік тому

      @@cigmorfil4101 true dead reckoning requires odometer pulses and magnetometers.....I worked on such systems in the early 90s and they were a pain to deal with.

    • @cigmorfil4101
      @cigmorfil4101 Рік тому

      @@XBKLYN
      The one I used had a gyro in iit which occasionally went wrong: I'd be driving along a motorway and the system would show me curving off the road for about 5 seconds (running under dead reckoning) and then jump back onto it as the satellite correction was made, to be followed by curving off the road again and jumping back on again, repeatedly until the gyro was reset/reset itself. That system used a pulse from the vehicle's tacho and used the satellite correction to calibrate itself as well.

    • @XBKLYN
      @XBKLYN Рік тому

      @@cigmorfil4101 sounds like we had very similar experiences. Gyros are hard core! As I recall we had to mount the two mag assemblies high above the vehicle on stalks to minimize effects from all the metal....it made us stand out in traffic which was very undesirable to say the least.....we also had a full size 486 PC in the trunk which stored the maps. I won't even get into the calibration routine 😁

  • @clairewilliams9416
    @clairewilliams9416 2 роки тому +233

    I never thought we had anything like sat nav in the 70’s. That system was totally impractical but kind of genius at the same time and got us to where we are today.

    • @craigjensen6853
      @craigjensen6853 2 роки тому +7

      It still seemed so sci-fi even in the early 90s. And then when they started to get popular and were huge and cost a ton, who thought they would be in everybody's pocket and you could buy the chips for pennies?

    • @hugocorminboeuf8007
      @hugocorminboeuf8007 2 роки тому +7

      IIRC during WW2, They had a system which used a map, a compass and the speedometer to track their movments around the desert.
      and it kind of worked.

    • @Mike-tv9rk
      @Mike-tv9rk 2 роки тому +2

      Any kid from the 80’s whos ever tried to program a big trax could tell you this will never fly !😎

    • @TrimeshSZ
      @TrimeshSZ 2 роки тому +4

      There was actually a fully operational satellite navigation system in 1964, although the only people that had access to it were the US Navy. It also had a very low fix rate (about once an hour, or even once every 2 hours at the equator), so it would have been pretty useless for car navigation - it worked pretty well for it's designed role of resetting the inertial navigation system on ships, though.

    • @hexkwondo
      @hexkwondo 2 роки тому +4

      Everything has to start somewhere.

  • @OlafProt
    @OlafProt 2 роки тому +150

    Loving this even just for the archive footage of 70s England!

    • @funkblack
      @funkblack 2 роки тому +2

      mostly unchanged

    • @BigSplenda1885
      @BigSplenda1885 2 роки тому +13

      @@funkblack LOL what?? Sarcasm?

    • @uss_liberty_incident
      @uss_liberty_incident 2 роки тому +12

      They were far better times.

    • @jeff4362
      @jeff4362 2 роки тому

      @@uss_liberty_incident Constant strikes, power cuts, gloomy economy and widespread sexism, racism and homophobia? Were they really better times? Granted today are not the best of times, but I think we're currently far far better than the 70s.

    • @itemushmush
      @itemushmush Рік тому +3

      i was born in 1993 but i still understand your comment. love these bbc archive vids! my father was born in 1940 and went through these times, if only i could understand his memories of better times....

  • @David-uq6yb
    @David-uq6yb 2 роки тому +251

    Can’t wait for this to come on the market!

    • @ian9642
      @ian9642 2 роки тому +9

      Hopefully they have a mobile version

    • @kjubajla
      @kjubajla 2 роки тому +5

      I pre-ordered mine in Halfords

    • @ian9642
      @ian9642 2 роки тому +3

      @@kjubajla I can't wait, hopefully we don't get a scalper issue

    • @MattChance
      @MattChance 2 роки тому +7

      @@ian9642 It’s inserted gingerly into an automobile with wheels, don’t get more mobile than that!

    • @Pau_Pau9
      @Pau_Pau9 2 роки тому +3

      Well product designers have to get to work soon!
      Because I can't stand that bare metal look..

  • @Ashfielder
    @Ashfielder 2 роки тому +121

    To be honest, despite its flaws, I’d still take this as long as it helped me get out of Chatham.

    • @ytwos1
      @ytwos1 2 роки тому

      No, no, it’s aim and purpose, as being displayed here, was to show you how to get to your destination within Chatham.

    • @happydillpickle
      @happydillpickle 2 роки тому +2

      You'll never find your way out without the cassette of tape!

  • @mikeh2006
    @mikeh2006 2 роки тому +237

    Makes sense for hire cars going to specific locations as he said. As long as you don't make a wrong turn.
    We can laugh at these inventions, but without them we wouldn't be where we are today.

    • @El_Gormo
      @El_Gormo 2 роки тому +10

      Literally 🙂

    • @mxbx307
      @mxbx307 2 роки тому +15

      And by "self-drive" hire cars he meant a conventional hire car you drive yourself, rather than a taxi or chauffered limo etc. He doesn't mean "driverless" cars like people are talking about today.
      But even in those days it would have been insane to drive yourself into Central London from the airport. There were other and better ways.

    • @themissinfowar6629
      @themissinfowar6629 2 роки тому +7

      “But without them, we wouldn’t be were we are today!” Not so sure about that

    • @weeardguy
      @weeardguy 2 роки тому

      @@themissinfowar6629 I'm pretty sure this paved the road for any system that came after it. This was this brainfart by someone who, instead of looking at the possible drawbacks first (and then deciding to not even try to build something like this) decided to build this system to see how it would work out. Ofcourse, the drawbacks were there, but at least someone had the courage to try something, most likely inspiring others to try and see how they could improve it.
      There's a video on a Dutch system from 1984. It's in Dutch and there are no subtitles unfortunately, but you probably get an idea. The program was called 'Wonderous World' and presented by Chriet Titulaer, who presented the viewer the newest advancements in technology, a bit like Tomorrow's World.
      ua-cam.com/video/Ix_srD7ATlg/v-deo.html

    • @prebenjaeger
      @prebenjaeger 2 роки тому +3

      People who laugh at inventions like this are likely very untechnical themselves and probably have never had an original idea either.

  • @paulxaphier5488
    @paulxaphier5488 2 роки тому +15

    Forget everything else, wouldn’t you just love to live in those times again? And I’m only 40!

    • @paulxaphier5488
      @paulxaphier5488 2 роки тому +5

      @The Riddler it’s horrible now mate. I get the fact we can do so much with the internet now, smart phones, great looking cars.. but the world was so clean back then. I mean look at the roads of Britain then. I’d go back any day. Sadly we can’t.

    • @krashd
      @krashd 2 роки тому

      @@paulxaphier5488 Clean? You need your eyes fixed.

    • @paulxaphier5488
      @paulxaphier5488 2 роки тому +1

      @@krashd you need your eyes fixed mate.. very quick.

  • @rocksoliddude1
    @rocksoliddude1 2 роки тому +32

    Only problem was he later put tape in and discovered a family member had recorded Queen's "We Will Rock You" on it off the radio.

    • @Chamber2020
      @Chamber2020 2 роки тому +2

      I understood that reference!

    • @georgemorley1029
      @georgemorley1029 2 роки тому +4

      “Buddy you’re a boy, make a big noise, turn left after at the pelican crossing, gonna be a big man someday.”

    • @TheMusicianTom
      @TheMusicianTom 2 роки тому

      Only if you could travel to the future. We will rock you was released in 1977

    • @matthewstarkie4254
      @matthewstarkie4254 2 роки тому +7

      @@Chamber2020 All cassettes eventually become The Best of Queen if left in a car long enough.

    • @Chamber2020
      @Chamber2020 2 роки тому +1

      @@matthewstarkie4254 i believe the incubation period for the tape metamorphosis is a fortnight..😁

  • @dobbsmill3676
    @dobbsmill3676 2 роки тому +15

    Old lady walked up to me.
    "Am I going the right way?"
    I said "yes, I think so"
    She kept on walking and seemed happy.

  • @russella7263
    @russella7263 2 роки тому +109

    Reminds me of the time my girlfriend borrowed my early TomTom GPS to visit a friend in rural Herefordshire. Coming home, she chose ‘home’ as the destination but accidentally also put the GPS into ‘demo’ mode. She followed every instruction the GPS uttered, but as the GPS was only reading out the instructions using a pre calculated time between turns and not calculating her actual position and providing the instructions at the correct junction, she eventually found herself completely lost.

    • @danielrose1392
      @danielrose1392 2 роки тому +8

      I remember the first satnav we had at work to receive an update, with the patch the demo mode was automatically deactivated once speeds above 30 km/h where detected. The same error happened multiple times so we went through the pain of updating all devices. If I recall right it took more than 1h per device and we only had one suitable cable.

    • @RAMBOIT.
      @RAMBOIT. Рік тому

      Sat navs are guides only

    • @LaRoche_
      @LaRoche_ Рік тому +4

      Like I said, women and machinery do not mix

  • @jdm65
    @jdm65 2 роки тому +48

    A face and voice of my youth. Lovely to see Michael Rodd again.

  • @Mastakilla91
    @Mastakilla91 2 роки тому +83

    I love it all. The cars, the colors, the clothes, the shops etc.
    Everything makes visually sense and gives off a cohesive look.

    • @thefreedomguyuk
      @thefreedomguyuk 2 роки тому +5

      You weren't there. If you'd been stuck there, you wouldn't love it. They were hard times. People didn't live very long. There weren't many luxuries. And paedos were socially accepted. It was easier among consenting adults to get laid, though. And people were brutally honest, no 2020 wokery back then.

    • @andonasdavid9653
      @andonasdavid9653 Рік тому

      @@thefreedomguyuk are the good points he pointed out wrong though? No.

    • @johnpoo1662
      @johnpoo1662 Рік тому +1

      ikr... almost like it was filmed in the 1970s

    • @gameking8809
      @gameking8809 6 місяців тому +3

      What are you talking about life expectancy in the 70s was nearly as high as today.
      And people were actually more wealthy than today

    • @francisdec1615
      @francisdec1615 5 місяців тому +1

      I was born in January 1971. I was pretty happy as a child.

  • @russellthomson5571
    @russellthomson5571 2 роки тому +29

    I love seeing all the old cars.

    • @livelongandprosper70
      @livelongandprosper70 2 роки тому +2

      Watch Minder and the sweeney

    • @lucius4556
      @lucius4556 2 роки тому +3

      @@livelongandprosper70 I used to have a Granada like Reagan,2.3l,thought I was the bees knees lol

  • @thesteelrodent1796
    @thesteelrodent1796 Рік тому +1

    "Accurate within 30 yards". That's accurate enough to send you down the wrong road several times over

  • @silverback3633
    @silverback3633 Рік тому +1

    I am seeing all the cars from the 50s and 60s that I grew up with and the video clarity is very good.

  • @wylancslass
    @wylancslass 2 роки тому +16

    Amazing to see tailgaters even in the 1970's!

  • @Haze1434
    @Haze1434 2 роки тому +14

    Every invention starts as impractical, until it becomes practical with time and improvement.

  • @ashwinpstpr
    @ashwinpstpr Рік тому +2

    Decent idea! Love to see such gadgets. Every piece of tech we enjoy today is result of such ideas.

  • @mediacityavid
    @mediacityavid Рік тому +1

    I liked Michael Rodd. He presented Screen Test in the 1970's on BBC1. He had his own production company called BlackRodd Productions specializing in medical training videos. I edited one of his programmes in the 1990's, all about heart attacks.

  • @dansmif
    @dansmif 2 роки тому +13

    Back in the 90's I remember using Autoroute for MS-DOS and thought it was revolutionary. It took minutes to calculate the route and then you print it out on bits of paper 😂

  • @warhawk638
    @warhawk638 2 роки тому +20

    It's actually pretty ingenious for the time, I could see it being applied to some of the things he was talking about, like bus route training or hire cars. Even if it is rather impractical should you come across a closed road, it's still pretty cool.

  • @nolimittolearning4414
    @nolimittolearning4414 2 роки тому +1

    BBC. Bring back tomorrow’s world. One of my favourite shows in the 80’s

  • @Pobsta-de7hb
    @Pobsta-de7hb 9 місяців тому +1

    Oh god I miss these days so much, I mean yea I was young in the 70s but the cars and the people and how things were. Cool video , wow I had forgotten all about the programme tomorrows world as well

  • @wisteela
    @wisteela 2 роки тому +65

    I'd seen this before via their Facebook thing, and it's amazing for its time. Also, lovely old VW. Bonus points for driving past those VW vans.

    • @thebugzone2568
      @thebugzone2568 2 роки тому +6

      Not to mention the ghia cruising along behind

  • @xntricity6446
    @xntricity6446 2 роки тому +17

    I love the mechanical technology, pretty amazing

  • @rayhall6931
    @rayhall6931 2 роки тому +1

    Love the snapped off indicator stalk.....

  • @mrswolls
    @mrswolls Рік тому +3

    I'm actually very impressed by this.. This could have been sold in the early 90s and still have been "futuristic".

    • @jackl593
      @jackl593 9 місяців тому +1

      Hmm but by 1990 Mazda already demoed a gps system in a car. Besides, The public was already aware of the functioning gps constellation by then.

  • @esssexboy
    @esssexboy 2 роки тому +16

    The amount of different journeys i do I would have to tow a trailer with me full of cassettes.

    • @krashd
      @krashd 2 роки тому

      One cassette is plenty, after all the cassette only has the phrases recorded on it and you only need so many phrases when giving directions.

    • @resolecca
      @resolecca 2 роки тому +2

      @@krashd 1:11 "my navagator is this pre recorded cassette of tape on it are all the instructions I need to find my around this route, so if I ever use a different route, I simply use a different cassette"
      so yes you would need a new tape for literally every single journey

  • @rugbydazz2264
    @rugbydazz2264 2 роки тому +14

    Glad to see Mr Rodd is still very much alive and with us I used to love his watching his reports on Tomorrows World

    • @itemushmush
      @itemushmush Рік тому

      is he really? i was born waaaay after this video was produced (90s) - he seems like a perfect presenter for the content

    • @rugbydazz2264
      @rugbydazz2264 Рік тому

      @@itemushmush Yes he is 78 now according to Wikipedia.

  • @OlawaleAkinwale
    @OlawaleAkinwale Рік тому +1

    How did I never hear of this? Very ingenious for the day and it just makes sense!

  • @everyhandletaken
    @everyhandletaken 2 роки тому

    This is brilliant. Love it.

  • @lovelybitofbugle219
    @lovelybitofbugle219 2 роки тому +33

    Can it take me back to this lovely time?!

    • @illustriouschin
      @illustriouschin 2 роки тому +2

      You forgot about all the bad stuff then.

    • @Ass_Burgers_Syndrome
      @Ass_Burgers_Syndrome 2 роки тому

      @@illustriouschin Bad stuff then was still better than bad stuff now.

    • @derekderek2570
      @derekderek2570 2 роки тому +2

      Aw yes nothing lovelier than the Vietnam War

  • @merlin5476
    @merlin5476 2 роки тому +19

    I know, how about someone draws a picture of all the roads ( not scale) and then you look at it to see where you are.. .... perhaps call it a map or something like that.
    On a serious note though, i loved the lack of cars in the clip.

  • @davidroses3854
    @davidroses3854 2 роки тому

    This is fantastic!

  • @user-et6pj4db9s
    @user-et6pj4db9s 4 місяці тому

    This is amazing for 1971, it literally is exactly the same as the modern navigator system except its on a cassete tape instead of a computer but even then theres still a computation device fitted in the car. Everytime you think these decades were ancient times you forget at the time they were as modern as you think today is, technology was being devised just the same.

  • @royalbloodedledgend
    @royalbloodedledgend 2 роки тому +3

    The good ol’ days

  • @colorado841
    @colorado841 2 роки тому +3

    I have one of those older model smart phones without access to the internet....so I still have to insert the right cassette tape if I want directions to a different location.

  • @robtana2526
    @robtana2526 2 роки тому +1

    Way better than google maps. I love the hardware technology, very advance for its time.

  • @pdrg
    @pdrg 2 роки тому

    Brilliant, love it!

  • @jaymac7203
    @jaymac7203 2 роки тому +3

    God I used to love Tomorrow's World And Blue Peter as a kid in the 80's. 😭 lol

  • @johnpolo4544
    @johnpolo4544 2 роки тому +3

    Fantastic. I think it could really catch on.

  • @joz6683
    @joz6683 2 роки тому +1

    Thanks for the video remember this show as a child in the 1970's. The analogue future, so full of optimum. I do miss it, the future today seams to be all doom and gloom. Bring back optimum...

  • @ninjathedeadguy2655
    @ninjathedeadguy2655 4 місяці тому +1

    This is the easily the greatest sarcastic bbc archive thing ever 4:32

  • @noahmizrahi9834
    @noahmizrahi9834 2 роки тому +1

    WOW! The future is here! I can't believe it's 2022 and we have this already wowee

  • @davidzel2
    @davidzel2 Рік тому

    Wow that's pretty awesome. 1971 you never fail to amaze me.

  • @drinity49
    @drinity49 Рік тому

    This is absolutely brilliant

  • @eins2001
    @eins2001 2 роки тому +1

    It's mindblowing how, while the tech has come very far, the basic system is exactly the same.

  • @b.dangerfield6499
    @b.dangerfield6499 2 роки тому +1

    Love it!

  • @sammy61187
    @sammy61187 2 роки тому

    Amazing how far we have come in technology

  • @iyoqeren
    @iyoqeren 2 роки тому

    Love the ending!

  • @MitzvosGolem1
    @MitzvosGolem1 Рік тому

    Excellent for that era. Cheers.

  • @ItZFlipz
    @ItZFlipz Рік тому

    This is a good archive

  • @oxymoron02
    @oxymoron02 2 роки тому +1

    The fact that he calls it a "cassette of tape" is so indicative of the time.

  • @guywerb
    @guywerb Рік тому

    Brilliant!

  • @PascalDickhoff
    @PascalDickhoff 2 роки тому

    This is incredible

  • @joe-vl3nd
    @joe-vl3nd 2 роки тому +1

    Happy days
    Look how clean it was

  • @Dex99SS
    @Dex99SS 2 роки тому +1

    Wow.... analog versions of advanced tech always blow me tf away.

  • @williamlloyd3769
    @williamlloyd3769 2 роки тому +1

    Thomas Brothers guide / maps were my bible when I moved to Los Angeles in 1970s. When I got stationed to Japan in the 1980s, getting lost or missing an exit was a nightmare.
    PS - still keep a hard copy map as a backup if cell system was to fail. Keep some electronic maps downloaded on my iPhone. Not to mention compass in glove compartment.

  • @chrisjacksonuk
    @chrisjacksonuk 2 роки тому

    i used to watch it religiously....thank you

  • @SAINT-ANTONIO
    @SAINT-ANTONIO 2 роки тому

    Splendid 👍🏻 ⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️

  • @nn.roberts
    @nn.roberts Рік тому

    Great video.

  • @therash09
    @therash09 Рік тому

    The ending was very satisfying. 🙂

  • @Michelle_Schu-blacka
    @Michelle_Schu-blacka Рік тому

    I absolutely adore these simple but genius solutions to problems.
    The VCR is still my favourite though.
    Plus, I miss London of the '70s and '80s. It wasn't pretty in comparison, but it worked.

  • @bardo0007
    @bardo0007 Рік тому

    This is amazing! 1971 ?? Before GPS even was a word. How right they were.

  • @that_bloke_kiri
    @that_bloke_kiri 2 роки тому

    this actually very brilliant

  • @wesley1983
    @wesley1983 9 місяців тому +1

    Imagine making the wrong turn and getting the tape off sync with your distance.

  • @krunkle5136
    @krunkle5136 2 роки тому

    Love the look of film when it's not a movie but something else that's interesting.

  • @dondiablo5583
    @dondiablo5583 Рік тому +1

    Best times ever, this are the real cars

  • @demohub
    @demohub 2 роки тому

    Amazing to see

  • @StarFox85
    @StarFox85 Рік тому

    the ending was superb