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Why many inventions, from flying cars to smart robots, fail to launch

Some technologies never quite make it. But a new book, The Long History of the Future, shows how certain problems are just bigger and thornier than we thought

By Matthew Sparkes

10 July 2024

Futuristic sci-fi flying cars fly over the night wet highway, through the night city. The concept of the future. 3D Rendering; Shutterstock ID 1555294988; purchase_order: -; job: -; client: -; other: - — Flying cars have long been part of our imagined future – but that is where they may remain
Shutterstock/Design Projects

The Long History of the Future
Nicole Kobie (Bloomsbury Sigma (UK, on sale now; US, 24 September))

A handful of technologies teeter on the cusp of release but never arrive. Take driverless (or even flying) cars, superintelligent machines and human-like robots that free us from the drudgery of everyday chores. What stops them leaving the minds of inventors and entering our homes?

That is what Nicole Kobie asks in The Long History of the Future: Why tomorrow’s technology still isn’t here…

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