May 5, 2017 4:07 pm

Friday Night, Neil Tyson Speeds into the Fast Lane to Investigate the World of Self-Driving Cars

Self-driving cars are a topic Neil deGrasse Tyson has wanted to explore on StarTalk for a while and who better to do it with than former VP of R&D at GM and Mobility Consultant for Google, Inc. Larry Burns, Wired magazine transportation editor Alex Davies, and comic co-host Chuck Nice?

Two parts of the show really had me thinking. First off, Larry raises a vital point when thinking about making the transition to self-driving cars: What about the people who like to drive? How do you preserve the freedom of going where you want, when you want?

Personally, I like driving. It can be very exciting to be behind the wheel, winding roads on a crisp, sunny day, or drifting in the snow (in a safe area where no damage can be done). I’m not a big proponent of self-driving cars yet, maybe because the technology is still in the experimental phase. But, like most people, I don’t like sitting in traffic, rubbernecking, finding parking, and all the other downsides of driving.

As Larry points out, self-driving cars would drastically decrease the downsides of driving in high population areas. “Self-driving car cities” would provide massive benefits to give people back their time instead of wasting it while sitting in traffic or looking for parking. Alex even foresees a bright side, that there will be a boom in the racing business. (I can always get my driving fix in on the track, I guess.)

I was also fascinated by the discussion about how rapidly we went from transportation by horse to transportation by automobile. In roughly thirty years there was an entire shift in the way we move around, and listening to Neil and Larry talk about it is something you don’t want to miss.

All that, plus, Neil and company cover just about every aspect of the self-driving car industry. You’ll hear discussion on car-to-car wireless connectivity, ridesharing, autonomous driving traffic solutions, the legal ramifications of accidents involving self-driving cars, the economic effects of a possible overhaul of the transportation industry, Tesla’s autopilot system, Uber’s attempt at flying cars, and much, much more!

Want to join the ride? Please tune in tomorrow night for The Rise of Self-Driving Cars at 7pm EDT right here on our website, as well as on Apple Podcasts, Google Play Music, SoundCloud, Stitcher, and TuneIn. And if you’re an All-Access subscriber, you can watch or listen to this episode ad-free at 7pm, too.

That’s it for now. Keep Looking Up!
–Ian Mullen