We’re all about the future here at WIRED.com. But sometimes we take a look back. This week, we ran an excerpt from a new book that did just that, by examining how one psychologist’s tireless investigation into WWII plane crashes inadvertently created an entire new field of study, and one that contributed directly to everyone’s favorite 20th century tech product: the Macintosh computer. We also wondered what would happen if the makers of this year’s (good!) car film Ford v Ferrari had included a bit more gearhead porn. It’s been a week: Let’s get you caught up.
Headlines
Stories you might have missed from WIRED this week
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In an interview, Uber CEO Dara Khosrowshahi likened Saudi Arabia’s assasnation of Jamal Kashoggi to the decisions that lead to the death of an Arizona woman who was struck and killed by a testing self-driving Uber vehicle. Khosrowshahi later walked back the comparison, but the question remains: Was the Uber crash really just a “mistake”?
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Our reviewer enjoyed the new film Ford v Ferrari. If only it had more…engineering.
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How the flawed, dumb design of the B-17 Flying Fortress—which led to accidental deaths and mysterious crashes throughout World War II—helped create the concept of user friendliness, and the device you’re reading this on today.
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Ford shows off the Mach-E, it’s “Mustang-inspired”, fully electric SUV. We take a look at the car, and how Ford created it in a scant two years.
Cat Swap of the Week
Cats are good. Long plane rides are bad. So who can blame one Russian man named Mikhail Galin for running an ingenious scheme to get his too-fat cat, Viktor, on an eight-hour flight between Riga, Latvia, and Moscow? Viktor outweighed the airline Aeroflot’s max pet weight by 4.4 pounds, but Galin convinced some friends to bring a minier kitty to the airport for the official weigh in, and then managed to swap the cat for tubby Viktor for the actual flight. Both Galin and Viktor got to their destination just fine—but Aeroflot stripped the man of his airline miles after he bragged online about breaking the rules. Worth it? Maybe.
Stat of the Week
49%
According to a survey completed by the city of Santa Monica, that’s the share of scooter- and bike-share rides that replaced car rides—meaning, the scooter-ers and cyclists would have hopped in a car if those services didn’t exist. Car rides “pollute our air and congest our streets,” the city noted in a report, and called the experimental program that allowed the services to operate in Santa Monica a “success.”
Required Reading
News from elsewhere on the internet
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Smaller European countries are liberalizing their taxi markets, and Uber is hoping to take advantage.
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The New Jersey labor department says Uber owes the state $650 million in taxes because it has been misclassifying drivers as independent contractors.
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What huge, failing SoftBank investments mean for workers.
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Tesla announces the site of its next foreign Gigafactory: Berlin.
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Elon Musk’s solar deal has become the top threat to Tesla’s future.
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Daimler’s CEO says the German company’s hard turn into electric vehicles might hurt a bit.
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Compact car buyers are really loyal—but Ford and GM aren’t making compact cars anymore.
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A drone from the company Iris Automation completed the first FAA-approved drone flight “beyond the visual line of sight” and using only onboard detection systems. (Usually, someone has to have eyes on their drone at all times and use ground-based radar to track it.)
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So what’s up at NIO?
In the Rearview
Essential stories from WIRED’s canon
Speaking of cool transportation-y movies: Check out this oral history of The Right Stuff.
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- 👁 A safer way to protect your data; plus, check out the latest news on AI
- 💻 Upgrade your work game with our Gear team’s favorite laptops, keyboards, typing alternatives, and noise-canceling headphones
