Elizabeth Hodgson

Presented by Sunday Night Entertainment AT WH AT COST OU R D RI VERL E S S FU T U RE? Documentary Channel and Sunday Night present DRIVE, an elegy to a glorious pastime on the cusp of a driverless future. To drive is to be free, in charge, a grownup. Cars symbolize freedom, power and independence. The car’s harmonious play between its shape, detailing and mechanical underpinning make it a thing of beauty. As Chris Bangle, Chief of Design at BMW said, “cars are the sculptures of our lives.” To know the swoop and sway of a car in motion, the road ribboning endlessly away into darkness, is intoxicating and exhilarating, but also slipping away before our very eyes. Once technological barriers fall away, we’re told, the end of human driving is inevitable. The implications are mind-blowing. Apparently, driverless cars will change us all for the better: saving lives, shrinking carbon emissions, freeing up urban space, ending congestion, increasing productivity, improving mobility for seniors and the disabled. Still, it all sounds a bit cold. Human driving isn’t just a thing in our rear-view mirror, vanishing slowly from sight. It’s a primal and universal joy. Musically speaking, driverless is the MP3. Driving is vinyl. DRIVE: The Documentary is a visually lyrical and thematically reverential contemplation of the rich, tactile relationship with a machine that doubles as an expression of ourselves. Told from the perspective of colourful car-lovers—hobbyists, racers, gearheads, shadetree mechanics and show-and-shiners—it’s a love letter to a powerful artifact of freedom vanishing behind us as we race toward a driverless future. Contact:-| written by Liz Hodgson | June 1, 2018 1