Robot, Take the Wheel ― What Autonomous Cars Are, How They Work, and How They'll Both Be Great and Suck

From the witty senior editor of Jalopnik, Gizmodo Media’s acclaimed website devoted to cars, technology, and more, comes a revealing, savvy, and humorous look at self-driving cars.

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.

Jason Torchinsky is the senior editor of Jalopnik, a cutting-edge news and opinion website about cars, technology, and the automotive industry, and has written for other publications owned by Fusion Media Group (formerly Gawker Media), such as Gizmodo and Jezebel. Torchinsky is also a producer of Jay Leno’s Garage, which he’s guest starred on, and is the star of his own show, Jason Drives, an internet show run by Jalopnik, which features Torchinsky driving obscure cars. The show, "Where the incomparable Jason Torchinsky drives everything you've never heard of” (according to its tagline), is now in its third season, has more than twenty-three videos to-date and millions of views and subscribers on YouTube and Facebook. One episode alone boasts more than two million views on YouTube. Torchinsky is also a stand-up comic who has opened for George Carlin; an artist whose installations have exhibited around the world; and the coauthor of Ad Nauseam: A Survivor's Guide to American Consumer Culture. A long-time resident of Los Angeles, CA, Torchinsky recently returned to his home state, North Carolina. He lives in Chapel Hill, NC.

Beau Boeckmann?is president and COO of Galpin Motors, America’s most recognized Dealership Group and home of the #1 Volume Ford Dealer in the World. In 2006 Boeckmann founded Galpin Auto Sports, which led to a starring?role and production title on the #1 rated automotive television show, Pimp My Ride. Boeckmann has been honored with several industry awards including the Peterson?Automotive Museum’s first Visionary Award and was inducted into the National Rod & Custom Car Hall of Fame. Boeckmann serves as a key member of Ford Motor Company’s Product Committee, Aston Martin’s Dealer Advisory Panel, and the Ford Dealers Advertising Association.?He lives in Los Angeles, CA.