Episode 16: The Automated Driving Revolution with 'Autonorama' Author Peter Norton

Ride: The Urban Mobility Podcast

GUEST: Peter Norton, author, "Autonorama"
ABOUT THIS EPISODE

“AUTONORAMA—The Illusory Promise of High-Tech Driving” (Island Press, 2021) is the new book by Peter Norton, an associate professor at the University of Virginia.

In Autonorama, Peter looks at the history of the future of high-tech driving. He begins with the automotive Utopia depicted by the spectacular General Motors Futurama exhibition at the World’s Fair of 1939, that promised better living, new places to go, and new ways of getting there. He then takes us to later similar exhibitions that first floated the idea of congestion-free, crash-free transportation, and then the myriad opportunities on offer in a world of automated driving, where everyone in the vehicle could relax and do anything other than drive, while state-of-the-art technology took on the role of driving the car.

Peter writes: “This book is not an entry into the debate about whether the automated driving revolution is good or bad, or whether it will yield (as a perennial question would have it) a transport “heaven” or a transport “hell.” It is a plea to stop asking such questions.”

In this episode, Peter talks through some of the key themes in his book, and shares some broader ideas about the development of technologies and business models for the future of mobility.

Peter Norton is associate professor of history in the Department of Engineering and Society at the University of Virginia, where he teaches history of technology, social dimensions of engineering, research, and professional ethics. Follow this link to learn more about Peter's work at University of Virginia, and this link for Peter's page on LinkedIn.

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