Leave it to an insurance company to encourage driver’s education by creating, of all things, a driving simulator. With the assistance of Singer (yes, the sewing machine company), Aetna Insurance developed the Drivotrainer, an analog “dummy car” that was installed in driver training classrooms in high schools and elsewhere.
The Drivotrainer was unique in that the machines, in essence, created a standardized method for driver’s ed, but in a classroom environment. Rather than battling fear and frustration in the high school parking lot or local streets, such manifestations were relegated to their personal driving sim. The students learned in the peaceful confines of the indoors.
According to Silodrome, each Drivotrainer featured the controls found in a real car at the time. This included a functional steering wheel, a turn signal lever, a dashboard with indicator lights and gauges, a gear shifter, and, of course, three pedals. This was the ’50s. If you couldn’t figure out a clutch, you weren’t getting a driver’s license. Hashtag as it should be.
The controls were not just for show or situational familiarity, either. The single-seat rides, also referred to as “Aetnacars,” provided legitimate feedback to the student driver. Periscope Film, which owns archival video footage, writes that the engine noise changed based on the throttle while the steering wheel, clutch, and brake simulated realistic resistance. Oh, and apparently the seat bounced around, too, for that 4D driving experience.
If that wasn’t fun enough, a large screen at the front of the classroom played a pre-recorded film that showed different driving scenarios, much like the cockpit-view Nürburgring videos we can’t not watch. The complete Drivotrainer course included 22 training films, each one synchronized with the student simulators and the instructor’s central console.
The student drivers’ responses were monitored and recorded in real time, so, like driving in the real world, it’s in your favor to pay attention. The final exam was passing an all-encompassing 25-minute road test (on film) that included everyday driving situations and emergencies.
A standard Drivotrainer classroom contained 15 Aetnacars. One of the first such classes was installed at the Brooklyn High School for Automotive Trades in 1953, says the Brooklyn Public Library. But other schools across the country also welcomed the Drivotrainer. An archived newsreel lists them as William Cullen Bryant High School (Queens, New York), Iowa State Teachers College (now the University of Northern Iowa), and Hollywood High School (California).
Similar simulators made their way across the globe. Silodrome highlights one from Italy that resembles the Aetna model but with a gated shifter. Other regions adjusted their versions accordingly. For example, Hagerty reports that the U.K. reconfigured their simulators to right-hand-drive.
Although production was discontinued sometime in the late ’70s, the Aetna driving simulators continued to be used well into the 1980s. But, just like driver’s education courses as a whole, these Aetnacars are a thing of the past. Still, if you’re vintage curious, there’s one on eBay for a hundred bucks. You’ll probably have to make your own engine noises, though.
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