It was around this time in 2017 that people in Arlington, Virginia spotted what looked like a grey Ford passenger van with no driver.
It wasn’t driving in the wrong lane, or causing any traffic jams, it just didn’t have anybody behind the wheel.
And while driverless cars are supposedly coming someday, in 2017 a van without a driver got plenty of attention.
One of the people who saw it was Adam Tuss, a reporter for NBC Washington.
He followed the van for 20 minutes.
When it stopped, he got out of his own vehicle and ran over to it.
Then he noticed there was a driver in that van after all… one who was dressed to look like a car seat.
Tuss knocked on the window.
“Brother, who are you?” he asked. “What are you doing? I’m with the news, Dude. Can you pull over, and we can talk for a second?”
The car seat/human hybrid declined to comment.
Later, the Virginia Tech Transportation Institute explained that this was part of a study to see how people would react to seeing driverless cars.
Those reactions, as you probably already guessed, were about what you’d expect.
Today in 1943, the birthday of Ken Norton, who was a boxing champion, actor and standout track star in high school.
He was so good, in fact, that after he finished first in seven of the eight track and field events he entered, it’s said that sports officials in his home state of Illinois created the Ken Norton Rule.
That rule said one athlete could only compete in a maximum of four events.
When you’ve had a rule named after you, you’ve arrived!
Car Seat Camouflage: Man Wears Bizarre Costume In Automatic Vehicle Experiment (NPR)
10 things you may not know about local legend, boxer Ken Norton (Jacksonville, IL Journal-Courier)
Our Patreon backers help us ride everywhere
Screenshot via NBC Washington