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Robot, Take the Wheel: The Road to Autonomous Cars and the Lost Art of Driving
Self-driving cars sound fantastical and futuristic and yet they’ll soon be on every street in America. Whether it’s Tesla’s Autopilot, Google’s Waymo, Mercedes’s Distronic, or Uber’s 24,000 modified Volvos, companies across industries and throughout the world are developing autonomous cars. Even Apple, not to be outdone, is rumored to be creating its own technology too.
In Robot, Take the Wheel, Jason Torchinsky explores the state of the automotive industry. Through wit and wisdom, he explains why autonomous cars are being made and what the future of automated cars is. Torchinsky encourages us to consider autonomous cars as an entirely new machine, something beyond cars as we understand them today. He considers how we’ll get along with these robots that will take over our cars' jobs, what they will look like, what sorts of jobs they may do, what we can expect of them, how they should act, ethically, how we can have fun with them, and how we can make sure there’s still a place for those of us who love to drive with manual or automatic transmission.
This unique and highly readable volume is brimming with industry insider information and destined to be a conversation starter. It’s a must-have for car lovers, technology geeks, and everyone who wants to know what’s on the road ahead.
In Robot, Take the Wheel, Jason Torchinsky explores the state of the automotive industry. Through wit and wisdom, he explains why autonomous cars are being made and what the future of automated cars is. Torchinsky encourages us to consider autonomous cars as an entirely new machine, something beyond cars as we understand them today. He considers how we’ll get along with these robots that will take over our cars' jobs, what they will look like, what sorts of jobs they may do, what we can expect of them, how they should act, ethically, how we can have fun with them, and how we can make sure there’s still a place for those of us who love to drive with manual or automatic transmission.
This unique and highly readable volume is brimming with industry insider information and destined to be a conversation starter. It’s a must-have for car lovers, technology geeks, and everyone who wants to know what’s on the road ahead.
240 pages, Hardcover
First published May 7, 2019
9 people are currently reading
105 people want to read
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Displaying 1 - 10 of 10 reviews
January 2, 2020
I came across this book while checking out the new nonfictions at my library. There were two copies of the book and the title caught my eye so I took it home and am super glad I did!!
First off, I LOVE the flow of this book and how it was written. It felt like peering into the brain of a dorky mechanic who is thinking about the pros and cons of a hypothetical scenario. It was not at all ranty and the author was knowledgable enough that this style of writing was acceptable. I didn't see this as a book where I could gather the latest data on autonomous cars and if that's what you're looking for, find something else. This book shows all the possibilities and effects of autonomous cars which is way cooler and more creative.
Second, the author was hilarious. I am one of those millennials who texts LMFAO AHAHFHAHJS with a stone cold face and I rarely genuinely laugh out loud but I actually loled SEVERAL times through this book, Jason is hilarious. He described humans as "moist" maybe 7 times and referred to them as "meat" progressively more and more through the book which both made me uncomf and lol.
Of course he is a car lover and talks like you should be one and if you aren't he hates you but that didn't bother me at all because it DEFINITELY did not sway his effectiveness in showing all sides of a matter and logically arguing one way or another. He changed my mind on a handful of things which was extremely impressive and just for this prospect I'd suggest you read the book. For one, I wanted a self-driving Tesla before this (and had mild plans to buy one after my Prius dies in 10 years or so) but now I would not buy one. Also, he beautifully showed me that driving is a wonderful way to journey and be by yourself and autonomous cars would spoil this time and simply be places to work between work and home.
Great read!
First off, I LOVE the flow of this book and how it was written. It felt like peering into the brain of a dorky mechanic who is thinking about the pros and cons of a hypothetical scenario. It was not at all ranty and the author was knowledgable enough that this style of writing was acceptable. I didn't see this as a book where I could gather the latest data on autonomous cars and if that's what you're looking for, find something else. This book shows all the possibilities and effects of autonomous cars which is way cooler and more creative.
Second, the author was hilarious. I am one of those millennials who texts LMFAO AHAHFHAHJS with a stone cold face and I rarely genuinely laugh out loud but I actually loled SEVERAL times through this book, Jason is hilarious. He described humans as "moist" maybe 7 times and referred to them as "meat" progressively more and more through the book which both made me uncomf and lol.
Of course he is a car lover and talks like you should be one and if you aren't he hates you but that didn't bother me at all because it DEFINITELY did not sway his effectiveness in showing all sides of a matter and logically arguing one way or another. He changed my mind on a handful of things which was extremely impressive and just for this prospect I'd suggest you read the book. For one, I wanted a self-driving Tesla before this (and had mild plans to buy one after my Prius dies in 10 years or so) but now I would not buy one. Also, he beautifully showed me that driving is a wonderful way to journey and be by yourself and autonomous cars would spoil this time and simply be places to work between work and home.
Great read!
December 8, 2019
Great book for a niche audience. If you're a car history buff, this is great. If you just like cars, you will not get the jokes. If you don't like cars, you will find this super boring.
September 20, 2020
If you’ve ever had a friend that on the surface was pretty goofy, but if you stop and really listen to what they’re saying you realize they’re making excellent points. That’s this book!
This isn’t an engineering analysis of autonomous driving. Imagine you had a conversation with someone who is very into cars about the future of autonomous driving. Now imagine they took a deep dive into that conversation and made a book - that’s what this is.
It’s funny sometimes, always informative, and even profound at times.
This isn’t an engineering analysis of autonomous driving. Imagine you had a conversation with someone who is very into cars about the future of autonomous driving. Now imagine they took a deep dive into that conversation and made a book - that’s what this is.
It’s funny sometimes, always informative, and even profound at times.
February 13, 2023
I enjoyed the first half of the book, which consisted of a history of robotic vehicles (dating back to a design by Leonardo Da Vinci) and an amusing but accurate rant about the limitations of present-day "autopilot" systems.
The remainder of the book focused mostly on the downsides of the full self-driving technology, when we reach that stage. While some of these concerns are insightful and little discussed by FSD proponents (do we really want cars that refuse to make U-turns or turn left if the traffic light has just turned red), others are petty concerns (losing the freedom to drive around with no particular destination).
I would have preferred that the author spend more time on the significant technological hurdles that stand in the way of FSD, and less on opinionated objections to the whole idea.
The remainder of the book focused mostly on the downsides of the full self-driving technology, when we reach that stage. While some of these concerns are insightful and little discussed by FSD proponents (do we really want cars that refuse to make U-turns or turn left if the traffic light has just turned red), others are petty concerns (losing the freedom to drive around with no particular destination).
I would have preferred that the author spend more time on the significant technological hurdles that stand in the way of FSD, and less on opinionated objections to the whole idea.
August 6, 2020
I loved this book. I'm definitely not "in the know" about cars, but I am curious about the idea of self-driving/autonomous ones. The author's voice made this an easy read--I learned a ton and also came out with lots of ethical questions to ponder, which I've recently been discussing with lots of friends and family members : ) I think if you already love cars you'll appreciate this, and if you're just curious, like me, you'll learn and enjoy--very witty and engaging the whole read. And fun illustrations too!
February 6, 2020
Fun book
I enjoyed this book. There were some parts about the history of cars that got too detailed and I skipped, but I enjoyed the author's humor and wild, futuristic ideas of what our autonomous future could be like. Remember that no one knows yet what the autonomous landscape will be, but this book provides some exciting ideas of what it could be.
I enjoyed this book. There were some parts about the history of cars that got too detailed and I skipped, but I enjoyed the author's humor and wild, futuristic ideas of what our autonomous future could be like. Remember that no one knows yet what the autonomous landscape will be, but this book provides some exciting ideas of what it could be.
October 18, 2019
Somewhat humorous and as factual as possible, explaining important issues.
April 20, 2020
Lots of good and interesting info, but the jokes and humor are unneeded, low quality, and very distracting. It was for this reason I stopped reading halfway through.
December 8, 2021
Enjoyable read about the all the related technology that has been developed over the last hundred years that will make autonomous cars possible in the coming decade.
December 19, 2024
Meh.
Quite a bit of foul language for no reason at all.
Quite a bit of foul language for no reason at all.
Displaying 1 - 10 of 10 reviews