Self-driving cars are here. But what kind of future will they bring: safe roads and extra time or dystopian traffic jams? My guest this week is Andrew Miller, who writes about self-driving cars and transportation policy. I love the open road, so I press him on what’s lost when we give away driving to the robots.

0:00 - Intro
01:27 - The sales pitch for Waymo, Tesla, and Zoox
12:24 - How autonomous are autonomous cars?
20:14 - Liability: Who is responsible for an accident?
31:56 - Political obstacles: Spying, data, labor
38:53 - 20:35: The good and bad scenarios
48:25 - Are we losing the “romance of the road”?

(A full transcript of this episode is available on the Times website.)

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Why Are We Still Driving?

Interesting Times with Ross Douthat