There have always been some strange fan theories about the fictional universe of Pixar’s “cars” movies, because it’s a universe that makes very little sense. There’s some cute and funny ideas about translating our human world to their car world, but it’s not consistent.

Everything in the world is designed in the cars’ favour and yet there’s evidence that humans once inhabited the world, because the cars have door handles and there’s no way cars could build buildings, stadiums etc. all by themselves. So, the world of “Cars” have definitely been touched by human hands.

Jay Ward, director of the ‘Cars’ brand, has his own theory

Since the films themselves and their associated merchandise never tackle the issue of what happened to all the humans head-on, it’s up to Jay Ward, Pixar’s Creative Director in charge of the “Cars” brand, to provide an explanation, and it’s extremely dark and worrying. Ward revealed his theory to Screen Crush, although the article was clear to state that Ward’s ideas about the backstory of the “Cars” universe are “not necessarily” an official part of the story.

Ward’s theory plays on the idea of the smart car. He said that with all the “autonomous car technology” flooding the world, we’re reaching a stage in automobile history “where you can sit back in the car and it drives itself.” So, he pitches the “Cars” movies as taking place in a “near-future” world where these smart cars are continually “getting smarter and smarter” until they eventually ask themselves the following question: “Why do we need human beings anymore?”

The way Ward sees it, humans are “just slowing (smart cars) down,” giving them “extra weight” to carry, and in the “Cars” universe, they eventually decided to “get rid” of the human race.

So, there you have it. We created cars too smart for our own good and they turned against us and killed us off in some kind of worldwide genocide, and Pixar made a harmless kids’ Film set in this world. As for the warm personalities of the lovable characters and why they’re not just cold and robot-like, Ward added the dark twist that after the genocide, each car “takes on the personality of the last person who drove it.”

There’s just one thing that doesn’t add up

Ward’s theory, dark though it is, does make sense, except for one aspect.

The “Cars” world is designed for cars. Nothing is designed to fit a human in. Like the motel that’s just giant traffic cones built for cars to park in. There were no humans staying in those cones before the genocide. That’s been built specifically for the car world. So, it seems as though the cars enslaved the humans before killing them, to use their hands to tailor the world to their needs via slave labour, which is even darker.

Obviously humans don’t stand a chance against cars, as demonstrated by the “Man vs Car” skit in the second-season “Interdimensional Cable” episode of “Rick and Morty,” so it stands to reason that if we made them sentient beings with eyebrows, they could enslave us and then kill us all and take over the world.

Cars 3,” which promises to take the series in a darker direction (in keeping with the tone of this little titbit from the brand director), will be racing into UK cinemas on 14 July. Try not to cringe too much at that pun, it was impossible to resist.