If you’ve spent time in San Francisco or Phoenix in the past couple years, chances are you’ve probably seen a self-driving car making its way around. This week, we’re joined by WIRED’s Aarian Marshall to talk about the race to flood our streets with self-driving cars. We’ll get into safety regulations, the pros and cons of robotaxis, and we imagine a future where driverless cars become mainstream.
You can follow Michael Calore on Bluesky at @snackfight, Lauren Goode on Bluesky at @laurengoode, and Aarian Marshall on Bluesky at @aarianmarshall. Write to us at uncannyvalley@wired.com.
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Transcript
Note: This is an automated transcript, which may contain errors.
Michael Calore: Lauren, would you like to introduce our guest?
Lauren Goode: Oh! I thought we were going to do the old “Lauren, Mike.” I would be happy to introduce our guest. So Zoë is not here today, but she’s around. She’s very busy, and we are very excited to welcome in her place Aarian Marshall. Aarian is a staff writer at WIRED covering all things transportation. There’s a lot going on in transportation these days. Aarian, it’s great to have you here.
Aarian Marshall: It’s great to be here.
Michael Calore: Why didn’t you fly on an airplane out to San Francisco to join us?
Aarian Marshall: I didn’t fly on an airplane out to San Francisco to join you because that’s not in Condé Nast’s budget right now.
Lauren Goode: Do you live in New York now?
Aarian Marshall: No, I’m just here for a few months.
Michael Calore: Do they have Waymos in New York City?
Aarian Marshall: They do not have Waymos or any sort of self-driving cars. I think New York City is kind of the final boss of self-driving cars, and we are far away from the final boss. Maybe one day.
Michael Calore: Well, that’s our topic this week. That’s why we’re bringing you on, because you do a lot of the reporting, as Lauren mentioned, about all the different self-driving cars, robotaxis, driverless vehicles, autonomous vehicles.
Lauren Goode: Planes, trains, automobiles, ebikes, everything with wheels.
Michael Calore: Well, we’re so excited to have you here today, Aarian, because we’re going to talk about the race to flood our streets with self-driving cars. We’ll consider the pros and cons of sharing the road with these robotaxis and talk about how companies are dealing with all of those pesky safety regulations. We’ll also examine what the endgame is for tech companies building self-driving cars, and we’ll imagine what the future will look like once driverless cars become fully mainstream. This is WIRED’s Uncanny Valley, a show about the people, power, and influence of Silicon Valley. I’m Michael Calore, director of consumer tech and culture here at WIRED.
