Why Are We Still Driving?

为何我们仍在驾驶?

Interesting Times with Ross Douthat

2026-04-30

57 分钟
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单集简介 ...

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.) Thoughts? Email us at interestingtimes@nytimes.com. Please subscribe to our YouTube Channel, Interesting Times with Ross Douthat. Subscribe today at nytimes.com/podcasts or on Apple Podcasts and Spotify. You can also subscribe via your favorite podcast app here https://www.nytimes.com/activate-access/audio?source=podcatcher. For more podcasts and narrated articles, download The New York Times app at nytimes.com/app. Hosted by Simplecast, an AdsWizz company. See pcm.adswizz.com for information about our collection and use of personal data for advertising.
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  • From New York Times' opinion, I'm Ross Douthat.

  • This is Interesting Times.

  • It feels like we've been hearing about self-driving cars for a long time,

  • but now they're really here, ferrying people to work and school and nightlife from Los Angeles to Nashville

  • and poise to spread to just about every big city in America.

  • My guess this week is very optimistic about a future where the cars take over.

  • He writes about self-driving automobiles and transportation policy on his substack, changing lanes,

  • And he's the co-author of a recent book with the stark title, The End of Driving.

  • We talked about the potential benefits of this transformation.

  • And as someone who kind of loves the open road, I pressed him on what's lost in freedom

  • and mastery and the very birthright of Americans if we don't have to be in the driver's seat anymore.

  • Andrew Miller, welcome to Interesting Times.