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

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  • čas přidán 20. 12. 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 - czcams.com/users/BBCArchive?...
  • Auta a dopravní prostředky

Komentáře • 2,1K

  • @commandert5
    @commandert5 Před 2 lety +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 Před 2 lety +146

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

    • @Dan23_7
      @Dan23_7 Před 2 lety +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 Před 2 lety +10

      It's not GPS!🤦🏿‍♀️

    • @Dan23_7
      @Dan23_7 Před 2 lety +27

      @@colors6692 it’s TPS 😂

    • @commandert5
      @commandert5 Před 2 lety +37

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

  • @gdogg3710
    @gdogg3710 Před 2 lety +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 Před 2 lety +148

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

    • @Pandaxtor
      @Pandaxtor Před 2 lety +71

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

    • @godfrey_of_america
      @godfrey_of_america Před 2 lety +10

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

    • @gdogg3710
      @gdogg3710 Před 2 lety +46

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

    • @xureality
      @xureality Před 2 lety +11

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

  • @Georgije2
    @Georgije2 Před 2 lety +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 Před rokem +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 Před 4 měsíci

      Bmw's don't have them lol

    • @Cooke125
      @Cooke125 Před 3 měsíci

      @@googleuser2609the clouds are moving tho

    • @fluchterschoen
      @fluchterschoen Před měsícem +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).

  • @megacontroller2657
    @megacontroller2657 Před rokem +136

    The camera quality is absolutely phenomenal for 1971

    • @JJsAutomotive
      @JJsAutomotive Před rokem +12

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

    • @Briggie
      @Briggie Před rokem +45

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

    • @noahtorocalzado
      @noahtorocalzado Před rokem +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 Před rokem +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 Před 4 měsíci +11

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

  • @grinsko6741
    @grinsko6741 Před 2 lety +3370

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

  • @HazelTheHare
    @HazelTheHare Před 2 lety +2300

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

    • @jaymac7203
      @jaymac7203 Před 2 lety +54

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

    • @crazychameleon123
      @crazychameleon123 Před 2 lety +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 Před 2 lety +14

      @@jaymac7203 or if you take a wrong turn .

    • @freethis222
      @freethis222 Před 2 lety +8

      There must be some interesting operations on that PCB!

    • @straightpipediesel
      @straightpipediesel Před 2 lety +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.

  • @hereticpariah6_66
    @hereticpariah6_66 Před 2 lety +12

    I love how he referred to a _"cassette of tape"_ early on in the recording!

  • @matthewclark2123
    @matthewclark2123 Před 2 lety +38

    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 Před 2 lety +2128

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

    • @Anmeteor9663
      @Anmeteor9663 Před 2 lety +49

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

    • @TPK_MAKG
      @TPK_MAKG Před 2 lety +12

      @@Anmeteor9663 sure mate go on

    • @brettknoss486
      @brettknoss486 Před 2 lety +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 Před 2 lety +21

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

    • @grinsko6741
      @grinsko6741 Před 2 lety +4

      Classic! Lol

  • @xboxmods
    @xboxmods Před 2 lety +231

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

  • @lawrenceweston922
    @lawrenceweston922 Před 2 lety +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 Před rokem +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 Před rokem +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 Před rokem +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 Před 4 měsíci +1

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

    • @nonegone7170
      @nonegone7170 Před 4 měsíci

      @@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 Před 2 lety +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 🤣

  • @mattmclellan123
    @mattmclellan123 Před 2 lety +794

    “There is one drawback, however”… lovely understatement

    • @CoPoint
      @CoPoint Před 2 lety +36

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

    • @fabolvaskarika7940
      @fabolvaskarika7940 Před 2 lety +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 Před 2 lety

      Well this scenaro still happens today

    • @Praise___YaH
      @Praise___YaH Před 2 lety

      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"

  • @JayTraversJT
    @JayTraversJT Před 2 lety +251

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

    • @superposition2644
      @superposition2644 Před rokem +21

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

    • @yseson_
      @yseson_ Před rokem +7

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

    • @paulcooper3410
      @paulcooper3410 Před rokem +4

      The cameraman is invisible

    • @theupside7549
      @theupside7549 Před rokem +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 Před rokem

      😄

  • @LePedant
    @LePedant Před rokem +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.

  • @Noone-of-your-Business
    @Noone-of-your-Business Před 2 lety +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 Před 4 měsíci +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"

  • @DavidFraser007
    @DavidFraser007 Před 2 lety +1031

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

    • @monkmodemalik8225
      @monkmodemalik8225 Před 2 lety +49

      The vw can haul it.

    • @Mortthemoose
      @Mortthemoose Před 2 lety +4

      😅😅👏👏

    • @krashd
      @krashd Před 2 lety +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 Před 2 lety +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 Před 2 lety +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.

  • @DJ-jv2gk
    @DJ-jv2gk Před 2 lety +1358

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

  • @timsummers870
    @timsummers870 Před rokem +8

    I had no idea something that resembled a vehicular GPS already existed in the early 1970s. This is truly amazing.

  • @CarzyNavi
    @CarzyNavi Před 2 lety +3

    4:33 BBC's sarcasm level at the time was infinite, quite impressive

  • @explorer806
    @explorer806 Před 2 lety +440

    A vast improvement on the gramophone version.

    • @steviewondek
      @steviewondek Před 2 lety +7

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

    • @jdm65
      @jdm65 Před 2 lety +7

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

    • @chaosnexxus9255
      @chaosnexxus9255 Před 2 lety +14

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

    • @MyTubeSVp
      @MyTubeSVp Před 2 lety +3

      LMAO

    • @glennmorris371
      @glennmorris371 Před 2 lety +3

      That one was wind up of course.

  • @jamesbyrne9312
    @jamesbyrne9312 Před 2 lety +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 Před 2 lety +2

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

    • @jamesbyrne9312
      @jamesbyrne9312 Před 2 lety +1

      @@richardlee9825 yeah it's astounding

    • @BlackheathTownhouse
      @BlackheathTownhouse Před 2 lety +25

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

    • @jamesbyrne9312
      @jamesbyrne9312 Před 2 lety +3

      @@BlackheathTownhouse best comment, turn around where possible hahaha

    • @mersenne2486
      @mersenne2486 Před 2 lety

      just like Assistants today. Which are not intelligent.

  • @CanadianBakin42O
    @CanadianBakin42O Před 2 lety +5

    It's honestly amazing how we went from that to Google maps on our phones

  • @rayhall6931
    @rayhall6931 Před 2 lety +1

    Love the snapped off indicator stalk.....

  • @GrilloTheFlightless
    @GrilloTheFlightless Před 2 lety +64

    “Cassette of tape”. Love it!

    • @rosstee
      @rosstee Před 2 lety +2

      Literally!

    • @neodonkey
      @neodonkey Před 2 lety +4

      It's correct.

    • @andybunn5780
      @andybunn5780 Před 2 lety +6

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

    • @doct0rnic
      @doct0rnic Před 2 lety +4

      Traveling in a Beetle of Volkswagen

    • @GrilloTheFlightless
      @GrilloTheFlightless Před 2 lety +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.

  • @ianb9729
    @ianb9729 Před 2 lety +6

    "I was halfway to my destination when the player ate the tape"

  • @Concetta20
    @Concetta20 Před rokem +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_ Před 5 měsíci +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

  • @Callummullans
    @Callummullans Před 2 lety +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.

  • @CorpoPsycho
    @CorpoPsycho Před 2 lety +432

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

    • @st200ol
      @st200ol Před 2 lety +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 Před 2 lety +132

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

    • @breakingaustin
      @breakingaustin Před 2 lety +50

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

    • @drunkenhobo8020
      @drunkenhobo8020 Před 2 lety +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 Před 2 lety +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 Před 2 lety +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 Před rokem +5

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

    • @usernameonutube
      @usernameonutube Před rokem +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 Před rokem +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 Před rokem +4

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

    • @700gsteak
      @700gsteak Před rokem +2

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

  • @DevinDTV
    @DevinDTV Před 2 lety +17

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

    • @fosterfuchs
      @fosterfuchs Před rokem +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.

  • @tormkg9879
    @tormkg9879 Před 2 lety +6

    In the early eighties I knew a delivery driver [long distance every day, multiple cities along the I-5 in Oregon] who needed to let a substitute drive for a week. They recorded turn by turn directions on an audio cassette. Included with directions were time appropriate callouts for good places to stop for snacks or a nice spot to stop over lunch.

  • @OlafProt
    @OlafProt Před 2 lety +150

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

    • @funkblack
      @funkblack Před 2 lety +2

      mostly unchanged

    • @BigSplenda1885
      @BigSplenda1885 Před 2 lety +13

      @@funkblack LOL what?? Sarcasm?

    • @uss_liberty_incident
      @uss_liberty_incident Před 2 lety +12

      They were far better times.

    • @jeff4362
      @jeff4362 Před 2 lety

      @@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 Před rokem +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 Před 2 lety +251

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

    • @ian9642
      @ian9642 Před 2 lety +9

      Hopefully they have a mobile version

    • @kjubajla
      @kjubajla Před 2 lety +5

      I pre-ordered mine in Halfords

    • @ian9642
      @ian9642 Před 2 lety +3

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

    • @MattChance
      @MattChance Před 2 lety +7

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

    • @Pau_Pau9
      @Pau_Pau9 Před 2 lety +3

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

  • @JohnMiller-hu2dn
    @JohnMiller-hu2dn Před rokem +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.

  • @silverback3633
    @silverback3633 Před rokem +1

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

  • @otakububba8081
    @otakububba8081 Před 2 lety +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 Před 2 lety +4

      I think I'm too young to get this joke

    • @violenceisfun991
      @violenceisfun991 Před 2 lety +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 Před 2 lety +4

      HAD to be Indiana.

    • @jamesgizasson
      @jamesgizasson Před 2 lety +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 Před 2 lety +2

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

  • @97channel
    @97channel Před 2 lety +1010

    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 Před 2 lety +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 Před 2 lety +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 Před 2 lety +17

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

    • @JesseP.Watson
      @JesseP.Watson Před 2 lety +11

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

    • @martinhughes2549
      @martinhughes2549 Před 2 lety +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)

  • @oxymoron02
    @oxymoron02 Před 2 lety +1

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

  • @demontongue9893
    @demontongue9893 Před 2 lety +4

    for the 1970's that's an incredible piece of kit for the 1907's even today if someone made something analogue like this out the blue they would be highly praised.

  • @russellthomson5571
    @russellthomson5571 Před 2 lety +29

    I love seeing all the old cars.

    • @livelongandprosper70
      @livelongandprosper70 Před 2 lety +2

      Watch Minder and the sweeney

    • @lucius4556
      @lucius4556 Před 2 lety +3

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

  • @clairewilliams9416
    @clairewilliams9416 Před 2 lety +232

    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 Před 2 lety +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 Před 2 lety +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 Před 2 lety +2

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

    • @TrimeshSZ
      @TrimeshSZ Před 2 lety +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 Před 2 lety +4

      Everything has to start somewhere.

  • @Pobsta-de7hb
    @Pobsta-de7hb Před 9 měsíci +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

  • @nolimittolearning4414
    @nolimittolearning4414 Před 2 lety +1

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

  • @Ashfielder
    @Ashfielder Před 2 lety +121

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

    • @ytwos1
      @ytwos1 Před 2 lety

      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 Před 2 lety +2

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

  • @dobbsmill3676
    @dobbsmill3676 Před 2 lety +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.

  • @thesteelrodent1796
    @thesteelrodent1796 Před rokem +1

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

  • @jerryfacts9749
    @jerryfacts9749 Před rokem +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.

  • @Mastakilla91
    @Mastakilla91 Před 2 lety +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 Před rokem +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 Před rokem

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

    • @johnpoo1662
      @johnpoo1662 Před rokem +1

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

    • @gameking8809
      @gameking8809 Před 6 měsíci +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 Před 4 měsíci +1

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

  • @jdm65
    @jdm65 Před 2 lety +48

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

  • @PapercutzUksocial
    @PapercutzUksocial Před rokem +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

  • @mrswolls
    @mrswolls Před rokem +3

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

    • @jackl593
      @jackl593 Před 9 měsíci +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.

  • @mikeh2006
    @mikeh2006 Před 2 lety +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 Před 2 lety +10

      Literally 🙂

    • @mxbx307
      @mxbx307 Před 2 lety +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 Před 2 lety +7

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

    • @weeardguy
      @weeardguy Před 2 lety

      @@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.
      czcams.com/video/Ix_srD7ATlg/video.html

    • @prebenjaeger
      @prebenjaeger Před 2 lety +3

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

  • @rocksoliddude1
    @rocksoliddude1 Před 2 lety +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 Před 2 lety +2

      I understood that reference!

    • @georgemorley1029
      @georgemorley1029 Před 2 lety +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 Před 2 lety

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

    • @matthewstarkie4254
      @matthewstarkie4254 Před 2 lety +7

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

    • @Chamber2020
      @Chamber2020 Před 2 lety +1

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

  • @Goatcha_M
    @Goatcha_M Před 2 lety +3

    Got to love the bit at the end where he drives into the water, which so many people have done blindly following GPS systems.

  • @mediacityavid
    @mediacityavid Před rokem +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.

  • @paulxaphier5488
    @paulxaphier5488 Před 2 lety +15

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

    • @paulxaphier5488
      @paulxaphier5488 Před 2 lety +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 Před 2 lety

      @@paulxaphier5488 Clean? You need your eyes fixed.

    • @paulxaphier5488
      @paulxaphier5488 Před 2 lety +1

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

  • @wylancslass
    @wylancslass Před 2 lety +16

    Amazing to see tailgaters even in the 1970's!

  • @robertonery8358
    @robertonery8358 Před 2 lety +6

    Isso sim é uma tecnologia impressionante!!!! O conceito simples e altamente analógico e funcional.

  • @eins2001
    @eins2001 Před 2 lety +1

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

  • @russella7263
    @russella7263 Před 2 lety +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 Před 2 lety +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. Před rokem

      Sat navs are guides only

    • @LaRoche_
      @LaRoche_ Před rokem +4

      Like I said, women and machinery do not mix

  • @Haze1434
    @Haze1434 Před 2 lety +14

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

  • @OlawaleAkinwale
    @OlawaleAkinwale Před rokem +1

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

  • @dondiablo5583
    @dondiablo5583 Před rokem +1

    Best times ever, this are the real cars

  • @davidthomas3826
    @davidthomas3826 Před 2 lety +13

    The moment he heard Johnny Mathis coming through the speakers instead of "clear, precise directions" was the moment he knew he was lost

  • @royalbloodedledgend
    @royalbloodedledgend Před 2 lety +3

    The good ol’ days

  • @robtana2526
    @robtana2526 Před 2 lety +1

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

  • @ninjathedeadguy2655
    @ninjathedeadguy2655 Před 4 měsíci +1

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

  • @wisteela
    @wisteela Před 2 lety +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 Před 2 lety +6

      Not to mention the ghia cruising along behind

  • @philsiverns4227
    @philsiverns4227 Před 2 lety +6

    Comes complete with a pencil for when the tape tangles.

    • @steviewondek
      @steviewondek Před 2 lety +1

      Always found a Bic pen was better.:D

  • @noahmizrahi9834
    @noahmizrahi9834 Před 2 lety +1

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

  • @borstenpinsel
    @borstenpinsel Před rokem

    The best thing is the language of the presenter. "Utmost convenience" love it

  • @esssexboy
    @esssexboy Před 2 lety +16

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

    • @krashd
      @krashd Před 2 lety

      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 Před 2 lety +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

  • @colors6692
    @colors6692 Před 2 lety +5

    0:10 crazy to think she is only 42 years old in the clip!

  • @gjaeigjiajeg
    @gjaeigjiajeg Před 2 lety +1

    Considering it's time, this was cutting edge technology.

  • @therealcaldini
    @therealcaldini Před 10 měsíci +2

    That Beetle would be worth thousands today in that condition!

  • @dansmif
    @dansmif Před 2 lety +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 Před 2 lety +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.

  • @gerthen2
    @gerthen2 Před 4 měsíci +1

    application in a self driving cars being noted in a 50 year old video showcases how far we are from actual self driving cars

  • @Dex99SS
    @Dex99SS Před 2 lety +1

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

  • @rugbydazz2264
    @rugbydazz2264 Před 2 lety +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 Před rokem

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

    • @rugbydazz2264
      @rugbydazz2264 Před rokem

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

  • @xntricity6446
    @xntricity6446 Před 2 lety +17

    I love the mechanical technology, pretty amazing

  • @khaledalhouli8816
    @khaledalhouli8816 Před rokem +2

    Forget the Nav, look how roads were so empty! Wow

  • @relentlessmadman
    @relentlessmadman Před 2 lety +1

    before gps on road trips I drove and my wife who loves maps was the navigator! now she puts in the distination

  • @cooptrol
    @cooptrol Před 2 lety +11

    He was recently spotted inside a floating ice block near the north shore of Greenland.

  • @mccockers
    @mccockers Před 2 lety +11

    I remember the days of having to stop several times to ask random people for directions, most of whom were clueless and sometimes hard of hearing!

    • @SJHFoto
      @SJHFoto Před 2 lety

      I find it so mind-boggling that people who live in an area can't give you simple directions

  • @aom808
    @aom808 Před 2 lety +2

    Back in the days people knew how to drive a car while shifting gears manually, reading hard copy maps and eating fast food simultaneously 😆

  • @joe-vl3nd
    @joe-vl3nd Před 2 lety +1

    Happy days
    Look how clean it was

  • @jaymac7203
    @jaymac7203 Před 2 lety +3

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

  • @lovelybitofbugle219
    @lovelybitofbugle219 Před 2 lety +33

    Can it take me back to this lovely time?!

  • @yemalad1.
    @yemalad1. Před 2 lety +1

    1971, this would have been mind-boggling cutting-edge technology!

  • @codaboi138
    @codaboi138 Před 2 lety +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 Před rokem +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 Před rokem

      @@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 Před rokem

      @@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 Před rokem

      @@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 😁

  • @peterstudley1804
    @peterstudley1804 Před 2 lety +6

    At the 3.30 mark we see two white hillman avengers , these were launched in February 1970 , and judging by the foliage in some shots I'd say this was filmed in may or June of 1971. Those high Street views look lovely, whatever has happened?

  • @Catastrophyst
    @Catastrophyst Před 2 lety +6

    Ah, the time before traffic was invented...

  • @dix0n778
    @dix0n778 Před 2 lety +1

    That ending, love the British dry humor.

  • @ashwinpstpr
    @ashwinpstpr Před rokem +2

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

  • @THEDTSMAN
    @THEDTSMAN Před 2 lety +20

    Everything looks so neat and tidy, not cluttered with cameras and a ridiculous amount of signs.

    • @matthew8153
      @matthew8153 Před 2 lety

      This was before the influx of Muslims.

  • @Dan23_7
    @Dan23_7 Před 2 lety +7

    Only takes the wife to record over it with a chart mix and you’re screwed 😂😂

  • @BrewCityBlues
    @BrewCityBlues Před rokem +1

    from a time before, "make a u-turn" existed...the mind boggles

  • @bobwoods1302
    @bobwoods1302 Před 2 lety +2

    "If I ever need a different route, I just simply use a different cassette"🤣