Autonomous Cars

The news that Argo AI is shutting down has me reminiscing about the good ole days of the autonomous vehicles boom, when the future still looked bright and promising. Back in 2018, I went down to Miami to immerse myself in Argo’s Westworld-style demo, complete with fake taxi stands and empty takeout containers. Read the story and be transported back to a time when AVs were going to transform cities, unprotected left turns would be solved eventually, and all was right with the world.

Levandowski — driverless car pioneer, church founder, trade secrets thief, Trump pardonee — features prominently in this Business Week cover story about how autonomous vehicles are failing to live up to their early hype. There’s a lot of color about driverless cars getting stuck in San Francisco, but the piece is anchored on Levandowski’s heel turn. Of course you should take his disparagement with a grain of salt: he’s currently working on a project that involves outfitting construction equipment with self-driving sensors.