Self-Driving Commentary: Autonocast

This post belongs to a series I’m calling Self-Driving Commentary, in which I spout and ramble on whatever is rattling around in my head pertaining to self-driving cars. Enjoy!

A few months ago, I sang the praises of the Smarter Cars Podcast. “Finally!” I remember thinking to myself, “a podcast about self-driving cars!” Well, it turns out that there was already a podcast about self-driving cars floating around out there for a few months. I just didn’t know about it.

Autonocast is a collaboration between Damon Lavrinc, Alex Roy, and Ed Niedermeyer - all three auto industry (as well as transportation/tech) journalists, although Alex Roy’s real claim to fame is as a rally race driver. Lavrinc’s role is more of a mild-mannered mediator between the highly opinionated Roy and Niedermeyer, but the theatrics and heated dialog between the latter two makes for a very interesting listen, to be sure.

Though billed as “the first ever podcast solely dedicated to self-driving cars” they often stray into conversation about the auto industry at large, and they don’t get into the technical nitty-gritty as much as I would like, but it’s a fascinating listen to be sure and a welcome addition near the top of my podcast subscriptions. (I mean, c’mon, is there really enough to be said about self-driving cars at the moment to fill twenty-plus hour-long episodes? Maybe not.) In the most recent episode Roy and Niedermeyer recounted their two day trip across India in a brand new Renault Kwid and all of the craziness involved with learning to drive in Indian traffic.

When I discovered Autonocast, I spent the next two weeks catching up. I suggest you do the same! And if you happen to know of any other self-driving car podcasts I’ve missed out on, please send me an e-mail.