In a Driverless World, Who Loses and Who Wins?

In blue cities across the country, unions and politicians want to ban self-driving cars. In this episode from the Search Engine podcast, PJ Vogt visits Boston to sort the facts from the propaganda. (Part two of a two-part series (freakonomics.com/is-this-the-end-of-driving).)

• SOURCES:

• Carl Richardson (linkedin.com/in/carl-richardson-4527666), ADA coordinator for the Massachusetts State House, president of the Guide Dog Users of Massachusetts.

• Gabriela Coletta Zapata (boston.gov/departments/city-council/gabriela-c…), Boston City councilor from District 1.

• Julia Mejia (boston.gov/departments/city-council/julia-mejia), Boston City councilor at-large.

• Timothy B. Lee (understandingai.org/about), author of Understanding AI newsletter.

• RESOURCES:

• "Waymo Hits a Rough Patch in Washington, DC (wired.com/story/waymo-hits-a-rough-patch-in-wa…)," by Aarian Marshall (WIRED, 2026).

• "New York drops plan to legalize robotaxis in setback for Waymo (theverge.com/transportation/881354/new-york-dr…)," by Andrew J. Hawkins (The Verge, 2026).

• "Waymo’s next five cities are all in red states (understandingai.org/p/waymos-next-five-cities-…)," by Timothy B. Lee and Kai Williams (Understanding AI, 2025).

• "What Waymo could mean for Bostonians with disabilities: independence at their fingertips (bostonglobe.com/2025/09/24/opinion/waymo-bosto…)," by Carl Richardson (Boston Globe, 2025).

• "Planning, Development and Transportation on July 24, 2025 (youtube.com/watch?v=pPe8clxS8wk)," (Boston City Council, 2025).

• "Ride-Hailing Drivers in Massachusetts Win Right to Unionize (nytimes.com/2024/11/06/technology/uber-lyft-dr…)," by Eli Tan (The New York Times, 2024).

• "East Coast Longshore Workers May Soon Strike (jacobin.com/2024/08/east-coast-longshoremen-st…)," by Joe Demanuelle-Hall (Jacobin, 2024).

• EXTRAS:

• "The Fascinatingly Mundane Secrets of the World’s Most Exclusive Nightclub (freakonomics.com/podcast/the-fascinatingly-mun…)," by Freakonomics Radio (2024).

• Search Engine (searchengine.show), podcast by PJ Vogt.

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