These days, there are only so many stories that I can read about the so-called “frontiers” of technology before I have to take a break and reground myself. There is only so much masculine bravado, social ignorance, and blatant indifference to quality of life that one person can take.
The writing and realities surrounding autonomous vehicles are bursting with reasons to need a breather. From fatal crashes where the company is not held liable, to origins in the imperialist goals of European men, autonomous vehicles are a prime example of how the unaccountable tech industry serves the culture of power — whether practitioners know it or not.
The uncritical lens through which we hear about the exploits of tech “visionaries” imposing their will on the world is pervasive. By examining just a few instances of the discourse surrounding autonomous vehicles, we can gain insight into a much larger pattern that has been true of my experience in and around technology: that it systematically and unaccountably serves the interests of the powerful, does so in a way that is highly patriarchal and white supremacist, and by nature of being so, is communicated to the public in entirely uncritical ways.
