Episode 26

How could self-driving cars change the world? - Part 1

June 10, 2022

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TRANSCRIPT

This month is a bit different. This episode is the first part of an investigation, led by Jack, into self-driving cars, trying to locate the technology in particular places. The first part focuses on Phoenix, Arizona, a testbed for some of the technology’s most ambitious developers and also the scene of the first self-driving car crash to kill a pedestrian. Jack talks to various experts - historians, crash investigators, journalists and tech company representatives - to ask what the technology might mean for different places. The second part moves to Jack’s home town, London.

The episode was presented and written by Jack Stilgoe and edited by Gemma Milne, with research assistance from Nuzhah Miah.

Study Questions:

1. What explains the gap between self-driving car hype and reality?

2. What can we learn from technological accidents?

3. In what ways is ‘autonomous vehicle’ a misnomer?

4. Are self-driving cars likely to look different in different places?

5. Are there places in which we are likely to never see a self-driving car?

6. How should self-driving technologies be governed as they start to appear in more places around the world?

Related links:

• Jack Stilgoe, (2019) Who Killed Elaine Herzberg?, OneZero, 12 Dec 2019, https://onezero.medium.com/who-killed-elaine-herzberg-ea01fb14fc5e

• Chris Tennant, & Jack Stilgoe, (2021). The attachments of ‘autonomous’ vehicles. Social Studies of Science, 51(6), 846-870. https://journals.sagepub.com/doi/full/10.1177/03063127211038752

• Lucy Suchman, (2019). Demystifying the intelligent machine. In Cyborg Futures (pp. 35-61). Palgrave Macmillan, Cham.https://link.springer.com/chapter/10.1007/978-3-030-21836-2_3

• Madeleine C Elish, (2019). Moral Crumple Zones: Cautionary Tales in Human-Robot Interaction. Engaging Science, Technology, and Society, 5, 40-60.

• Peter Norton, (2011). Fighting traffic: the dawn of the motor age in the American city. Mit Press.

• Wetmore, J. (2003). Driving the dream. The history and motivations behind 60 years of automated highway systems in America. Automotive History Review, 7, 4-19.