
Driven
The Race to Create the Autonomous Car
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Narrated by:
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Tristan Morris
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By:
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Alex Davies
Alex Davies tells the “illuminating and important narrative” (Steven Levy, author of Facebook: The Inside Story) of the quest to develop driverless cars - and the fierce competition between Google, Uber, and other companies in a race to revolutionize our lives.
The self-driving car has been one of the most vaunted technological breakthroughs of recent years. But early promises that these autonomous vehicles would soon be on the roads have proven premature. Alex Davies follows the twists and turns of the story from its origins to today.
The story starts with the Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency (DARPA), which was charged with developing a land-based equivalent to the drone, a vehicle that could operate in war zones without risking human lives. DARPA issued a series of three “Grand Challenges” that attracted visionaries, many of them students and amateurs, who took the technology from Jetsons-style fantasy to near-reality. The young stars of the Challenges soon connected with Silicon Valley giants Google and Uber, intent on delivering a new way of driving to the civilian world.
Soon the automakers joined the quest, some on their own, others in partnership with the tech titans. But as road testing progressed, it became clear that the challenges of driving a car without human assistance were more formidable than anticipated.
Davies profiles the industry’s key players from the early enthusiasm of the DARPA days to their growing awareness that while this spin on artificial intelligence isn’t yet ready for rush-hour traffic, driverless cars are poised to remake how the world moves. Driven explores “the epic tale of competition and comradery, long odds and underdogs, all in service of a world-changing moonshot” (Andy Greenberg, author of Sandworm: A New Era of Cyberwar).
©2020 Alexander Davis. All rights reserved. (P)2020 Simon & Schuster, Inc. All rights reserved.Listeners also enjoyed...




















The story is both fascinating and thrilling, detailing the events of the Darpa Challenges, Academic research, the early years of Google's Autonomy research, and the sudden rise of dozens of startups.
This is a must-read for anyone who works in transportation, robotics, or the automotive industry. It simultaneously captures the excitement of the races, the interpersonal drama between key figure, and some of the technical features that go into an autonomous vehicle.
Origins of some of the biggest names in robotics
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Not sure I have ever reviewed anything here before, and only here now because the one and only review said there was something wrong with the audio
While the narrator is maybe a little hard to understand in a few spots overall it is no problem at all in the audio is fine
Just wanted to make sure anybody looking at this didn't get turned off by that one and only review
Enjoy!
Audio is fine
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Fast paced, entertaining, great listen
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sounds like water obscures it. would likely greatly improve with quality checks and finishing.
the narrator tries very hard to enunciate in a breathy way that feels forced instead of natural story telling. almost every last word in a sentence ends with a lower voice and breadth.
alexa please help!! or hire me.
Narration, audio quality leaves much to be desired
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