Confronting the Weirdness of a Waymo Future | Interesting Times with Ross Douthat

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 01:00 - The sales pitch for Waymo, Tesla, and Zoox 12:08 - How autonomous are autonomous cars? 19:37 - Liability: Who is responsible for an accident? 31:26 - Political obstacles: Spying, data, labor 37:58: The good and bad scenarios 47:30 - Are we losing the “romance of the road”? Thoughts? Email us at interestingtimes@nytimes.com. Read the full transcript here: https://www.nytimes.com/2026/04/30/opinion/why-are-we-still-driving.html Unlock full access to New York Times podcasts and explore everything from politics to pop culture. Subscribe today at nytimes.com/podcasts or on Apple Podcasts and Spotify.