PJ Vogt

I have a temper.

I am distracted.

I rode in an autonomous test vehicle.

At Carnegie Mellon University, they had a test track in Pittsburgh on an old steel mill property.

And after this one 20-minute or whatever ride, I said, give me the autonomous vehicles.

It's so plainly better than I am as a driver, certainly.

So I'm eager for it.

And I appreciate your putting the pedal to the metal for autonomous.

I hope it gives people a little context for this.

All the questions people have, is this safe?

What is it going to do?

Like, we've answered as much as we can.

Today on Freakonomics Radio, we turn the mic over to PJ and our friends at the Search Engine podcast for the first of a two-part series on driverless cars.

Listeners, start your engines.

Before we start the story today, I want to ask you to imagine a different version of your life.

You're you, but it's almost 200 years ago.

And unfortunately, in our hypothetical, it's Monday morning.

It's Monday morning, and it's very early.

Pre-dawn.

You wake up to this really hard rapping at your window.