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Project Knight Rider |
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Project Knight Rider |
Project Knight Rider was developed after years of research by the Foundation into Artificial Intelligence. Wilton Knight felt although Project Megaman was a huge success, it was not perfect. Human's after all, do make mistakes. In the late 1970's when computers were becoming more and more powerful, Wilton wanted a way to incorporate them into his projects.
After almost 4 years of research, the Foundation came up with the first totally interactive, totally artificial computer program that could "think" for itself, plus adapt to external stimuli. This first program was integrated into a micro processor and placed inside a state of the art vehicle with many other advanced capabilities. This first "computer car" was called K.A.R.R., an anagram for The Knight Automated Roving Robot.
K.A.R.R. was an unprecedented success, and was the initial reason the United States government took notice of the foundation. K.A.R.R. was placed through many rigorous tests, but near the end of testing, the research team learned they had made a major programming error. Because Wilton decided to rely on the fact that computers never make mistakes, K.A.R.R. was given the command for self preservation. Because of this, K.A.R.R. did what it "felt" was best for it's continued existence, even if that meant the destruction of property, and of any human who stood in its way. After Wilton discovered the error, they decided to scrap K.A.R.R., and start again.
There next attempt was K.I.T.T., (Knight Industries Two-Thousand) who's main programming was the preservation of human life. After months of testing, K.I.T.T. was paired with Michael Long, a former Las Vegas police officer, who changed his name to Michael Knight after joining the foundation. The pairing was a landmark for the foundation. Michael and K.I.T.T. worked together for over 4 years, with close to a 100% success rate. Unfortunately, Wilton Knight was unable to witness his dream become a reality, as he passed away on September 24, 1982, just days before Michael's initial assignment.
Michael and K.I.T.T. solved many cases for the foundation in their years together, many of which are still classified. Then during the conclusion of one mission, Michael disappeared with K.I.T.T. No one to this day is sure what happened to Michael or K.I.T.T. Many believe they are still in contact with the foundation and work in a Top Secret capacity.
After Michael Knight left the foundation, they decided it was time to "upgrade" Project Knight Rider. The result was K.R.O., (Knight Reformulation One.) One of the major improvements F.L.A.G. made was for the personality of the car to complement it's driver. It was a good idea in theory, but unknown to F.L.A.G., K.R.O.'s driver Martin Jantzen was mentally unstable. Because K.R.O.'s personality matched that of it's driver, K.R.O. also became unstable.
F.L.A.G. then decided to abort the project, but not before Martin and K.R.O. committed some unscrupulous crimes. Martin was captured and placed in the White Sands detention facility. He was there until 1997 when K.R.O. captured Trek Sanders from Team Knight Rider, and made a trade for Jantzen. Martin and K.R.O. then went after James Marland, but was unsuccessful after being stopped by Team Knight Rider. Martin was then killed and K.R.O. was destroyed.
