Sidebar: The self-driving dilemma

Hold on to your butts as we take a ride through the self-driving car revolution to see if the future of transportation is a techno-utopia or another way for Big Tech to grab the wheel of our lives.

While some see a world where you can nap through a traffic jam, others see a data-hungry machine poised to replace human workers. In our sixth episode this season, we ride along in a Waymo through the streets of Austin, Texas, to explore how “the law of the newly possible” is struggling to keep up with cars that see the world through lasers and algorithms.

Who gets the ticket when an autonomous vehicle breaks the law? And what happens to rideshare drivers when the “human” is removed from the equation?

Special guests:

• Bryant Walker Smith, professor at the University of South Carolina
• Nassim Parvin, professor at the University of Washington Information School
• Sergio Avedian, contributor to The Rideshare Guy and The Driverless Digest

Sidebar tackles the top stories you need to know from the legal world. Join reporters Hillel Aron, Kirk McDaniel, Amanda Pampuro, Kelsey Reichmann and Josh Russell as they take you in and out of courtrooms in the U.S. and beyond and break down developments to help you understand how they affect your day-to-day life.

This episode was produced by Kirk McDaniel. Intro music by The Dead Pens. A transcript is available.

Editorial staff is Ryan Abbott, Sean Duffy and Jamie Ross.

The future is now:

• AI safety gets spotlight in Musk-OpenAI feud
• Nvidia can’t shake authors’ claims it trained AI on pirated books
• Judge rebukes ex-DOJ attorney for AI-generated brief