This week, in the Tech Issue of the magazine, Burkhard Bilger writes about Anthony Levandowski, an engineer at Google X, the software giant’s secret space for testing new products, and his development of the driverless car. Bilger writes, “The Google car is an old-fashioned sort of science fiction: this year’s model of last century’s make. It belongs to the gleaming, chrome-plated age of jet packs and rocket ships, transporter beams and cities beneath the sea, of a predicted future still well beyond our technology.” Some of the clips in the above video are those that Levandowski replays for himself, a reminder of previous engineers’ attempts to create driverless vehicles. During the 2005 DARPA Grand Challenge, Levandowski said, of his self-driving motorcycle, “The thrill is seeing something that everybody who you know told you it could not be done work.”
Daily
Our flagship newsletter highlights the best of The New Yorker, including top stories, fiction, humor, and podcasts.
Our Local Correspondents
Donald Trump Is Being Ritually Humiliated in Court
At his criminal trial, the ex-President has to sit there while potential jurors, prosecutors, the judge, witnesses, and even his own lawyers talk about him as a defective, impossible person.
By Eric Lach
Our Local Correspondents
Why You Can’t Get a Restaurant Reservation
How bots, mercenaries, and table scalpers have turned the restaurant reservation system inside out.
By Adam Iscoe
News Desk
What Harvey Weinstein’s Overturned Conviction Means for Donald Trump’s Trial
The legal issue behind Weinstein’s successful appeal is also at the heart of the former President’s hush-money case.
By Ronan Farrow
Daily Comment
How Columbia’s Campus Was Torn Apart Over Gaza
The university asked the N.Y.P.D. to arrest pro-Palestine student protesters. Was it a necessary step to protect Jewish students, or a dangerous encroachment on academic freedom?
By Andrew Marantz