What is hitching up a team of horses to ...in the following passage?

Question

There is no need to be afraid of science, nor to be frightened away by the suggestion that we can use science to improve the quality of our lives and the lives of the members of our family. When I speak to parents about the science of human behavior, I sometimes see them flinch and become anxious because of the difficulty they had in school with their science classes. What I am talking about here is not to be confused with doing science or studying science in the traditional sense. What I am talking about here is using what we know from science to improve our lives. We do that all the time and quite effortlessly, in fact even comfortably. For example, though it might be frigidly cold or torridly hot outside, we can create a comfortable environment within our home or our car by simply manipulating a device on the wall or on the dashboard that controls the environment to our liking. That is a wonderful option over heating our house with an open fire, or hitching up a team of horses to take us to our destination through the heat or the cold. This option has been made available to us by science.

Answer 1

At one time, a common mode of travel involved hitching horses to a wagon or carriage, then riding within that wagon or carriage.  There was no source of heat or airconditioning.  Driving in a climate-controlled auto is a much better option.

***

Answer 2

He's just saying that without science, we would still be riding around in an open-air carriage drawn by a team of horses, rather than an air-conditioned automobile.

He's also saying that we need not know the underpinnings of science to fully enjoy its benefits.