2026, Automotive, Fantasy, Mysteries, Weather

Mystery Car

34 Comments

As I was backing out of my parking space at Michaels yesterday afternoon, another car, two spots up starting backing out at the same time.  I looked toward the driver to make sure that they had seen me and was startled to see NO ONE.  No body in the driver’s seat, no body in the passenger seat. 

You can imagine, I’m sure, that this completely freaked me out.  It also caused me to doubt myself.  I had just mis-seen that, right?  The mystery car was behind me at this point so I drove very very slowly toward the exit lane.  From my rear view mirror, it really didn’t look like there was anyone driving. 

YA will tell you that I know nothing about cars, but I would have bet money that cars couldn’t drive themselves.  Even Teslas have to have somebody IN the car, don’t they?  And, of course, I can’t tell you what kind of car it was – I really am hopeless in this area.

As I pulled into the exit lane, I kept my speed slow – barely moving slow.  I saw the mystery car pull over to the front of the Michaels and saw a man and a woman leave the store and jump in the car.  At that point, I decided I couldn’t just sit there with them coming up behind me, so I headed home.

Here’s my real conundrum about this.  This car was four parking spaces away from the store.  And it was 13 degrees, not 13 below.  Cars that you can warm up seem weird enough to me, but having a car that drives 4 parking spaces to pick you up doorside is just too too bizarre for me. 

When hover-cars are invented, will you get one?

34 thoughts on “Mystery Car”

  2. I’ve always wanted a car that would come to me. I didn’t realise they were here now.

    And yeah, once they become the norm, I’ll get one.
    “Don’t be the first, and don’t be the last to adapt new technology.”

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  3. I’d say hover cars are unlikely in my lifetime, or at least in the part where I am still driving.

    The technology of hovering aside, the prospect of cars not limited to roadways, driving in every direction, possibly over your house, virtually ungovernable because they are unpredictable is not a chaos I would wish to join.

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  6. Rise and Shine, Baboons,

    I doubt it. Cars are like computers to me. I love what they do, but other than getting me somewhere safely, I do not care that much. (Although my heated steering wheel and seats are divine–then I get there safely AND warmly.). ANd then there is my fear of heights.

    I did not know there were cars that would pick you up in the parking lot. VS, your reaction was similar to what mine would have been.Wow.

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  7. Absolutely . . . with conditions. (Old Jetsons fan here)

    First, only I would be allowed to have one, so I don’t have to deal with other “flying cars.” As Bill said, I’m not crazy about bad drivers driving EVERYWHERE badly. But if autonomous flying cars become safe and reliable, then let a few other folks have them too. Second, if others are allowed to fly them, then I get to be the only one allowed to fly ABOVE everyone else by 100 feet or so. My margin of safety. 🙂

    My questions: What will we do with all the roads that are no longer needed? How high in the air will we be allowed to drive/fly? Will we need air traffic control for 100 million cars too? Will we all need pilot’s licenses instead of driver’s licenses?

    Chris in Owatonna

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    1. Those drivers who identify way too much with their cars will never be content with auto-autonomy, reducing them, as Alan Shepherd famously said, to “Spam in a can”. They’ll find ways to override the autonomous systems, modify the power, and otherwise subvert an orderly regulated system.

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      1. Now that I’ve thought about it a little more, my guess is that by the time we have technology to make hover cars we’ll have technology that the cars drive themselves all the time. So sensors and overrides and all that kind of stuff. Will Alan Shepherd have the stomach for it at that point?

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  9. Sort of related.

    This morning I received an email from a friend who lives in Minneapolis. On Saturday he had followed an ICE truck on Lake Street that, as it turned out, was speeding toward where Alex Pretti had just been killed. By the time my friend arrived at the scene there were several hundred people gathered. He got caught up in the crowd being pushed back by federal agents, got knocked to the ground and bear sprayed. His email was describing in detail what the scene was like, including three attached photos.

    Here’s where it gets weird. At the top of his email there was an “AI Overview” of the contents of his private email addressed to me; a stark reminder that private emails are not private. The overview was a three-bullet-point summary of the content of my friend’s email. WTF? Brave New World.

    Have any of you experienced this gross invasion of privacy? This is not something that I have signed up for, and I’ll see if I can figure out how to opt out of this “service.” I don’t need AI’s assistance in interpreting what my friends write to me.

    Thoughts?

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  10. I haven’t seen that particular issue but last week Amazon decided to upgrade my Alexa to “AlexaPlus without warning (or asking) me. She had a different voice, and OMG she never stopped talking. A simple question was answered, but then expanded upon way too much. It took me about a half a day to figure out how to disable that.

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  12. After 5 hard days, I feel blessed. I am sitting in Sandra’s lift chair dozing and watching birds and squirrels. My feeder has been popular in the cold. I woke up and had the sensation Sandra was sitting in the chair beside me. Just a factor of my brain issues, but pleasant for 10 seconds. But then my male cardinal, red of course, but with a tinge of magenta, landed on my deck and looked in at me for about 20 seconds. Who watches who? “Everything Is Holy Now” come to life.
    I have been on a mental and physical health break. I cannot drive right now because of two lumps (chalazion) in my right upper eyelid putting pressure on the eye giving me blurry vision in that eye. And sometimes double vision. The last time I drove it was scary. How do I get to my eye appointment tomorrow afternoon? Who knew all the ways for the body to fall apart? The chalazion are not supposed to hurt, but they are giving me a migraine and both eyes are watering. Or am I weeping for my country?

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  13. No. I’m thinking of selling my 2024 Toyota Corolla Cross because it tries to drive for me too much. I do not like that. I am the driver. I do not want to be overruled by my car. I have similar concerns about everyone suddenly taking to the air in their cars.

    If I do sell it, I’ll be looking for an older Toyota RAV4 (2016 – 2022). I also miss a CD player!

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  16. flying car… yep
    self driving… ok
    i want to drive too.
    now if you flip off a guy he can do the loop de loop snd be right behind you like the old bi plane ww1 movie fight scenes
    ive heard about hover cabs that are being tested.
    saw a real cool 1 person helicopter looking thing id love.
    need streets to act as map direction points for now but maybe in the future you just punch in latitudr snd longitude and whamo youre there. i always envisioned an exercise machine while waiting for autopilot to take you to where youre heading.
    sky motorcycles ala star wars is what im waiting for

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