Ready or Not, Driverless Cars Are Here

After a closely watched vote, driverless cars, once a Silicon Valley fantasy, have become a 24-hour-a-day reality in San Francisco. Are autonomous vehicles an interesting and safe transportation alternative? Or are they a nuisance and a traffic-blocking disaster waiting to happen? Cade Metz, who covers technology for The Times, describes the unique challenges of coexisting with cars that drive themselves. Guest: Cade Metz (https://www.nytimes.com/by/cade-metz) , a technology correspondent for The New York Times. Background reading:  • On Monday, Waymo began letting the public pay for rides in its driverless cars in San Francisco. (https://www.nytimes.com/2023/08/18/te...) The New York Times dispatched three reporters around the city (https://www.nytimes.com/2023/08/18/te...) to test the service. • Local officials are worried (https://www.nytimes.com/2023/08/09/te...) that state regulators have been too eager to embrace plans for round-the-clock driverless taxi services. For more information on today’s episode, visit nytimes.com/thedaily (http://nytimes.com/thedaily?smid=pc-t...) . Transcripts of each episode will be made available by the next workday. Subscribe today at nytimes.com/podcasts (http://nytimes.com/podcasts) or on Apple Podcasts and Spotify. You can also subscribe via your favorite podcast app here https://www.nytimes.com/activate-acce.... For more podcasts and narrated articles, download The New York Times app at nytimes.com/app.