Futurismo | An Automotive News Podcast

In this episode of 'Futurismo,' we investigate how self-driving cars can be both life-saving technology and out-of-control robot cars. We'll peek in on a self-driving shuttle road-trip across America, find out how the public reacts to autonomous fatalities, and pose an infamous thought experiment to experts in the field.

In "Tomorrow for Sale," the fifth episode of Season 2 of our podcast "Futurismo," we examine how the industry can get consumers -- skeptics, early adopters and everyone in between -- to support and embrace its vision.

In the latest episode of 'Futurismo,' we investigate how car designers are developing the language self-driving cars will use to exchange information with people in and around them. "Light and color," the fourth episode of our second season, features engineers, designers and researchers tackling some of the thorniest autonomous design problems.

For the airline industry, autonomous technology is an old story. In "Up in the air," we find out how pilots manage automation at 200 mph, and see what lessons we can learn for self-driving cars.

In Season 2, Episode 2 of Futurismo, “Patent No. US3359539,” we tell the story of the seat-belt ignition interlock and alarm, a device that requires drivers to buckle up in order to start the car. We delve into how it was born, how, in just a few years, it became the center of a national conversation, and finally we’ll learn how it failed. Engineers working on advanced safety systems today and the self-driving car of tomorrow should heed this cautionary tale, because if one truism holds true through history is that humans can be fickle users.

The future is filled with unknowns. Will the industry’s bet on green powertrains pay off? Is it enough to assume the public will love self-driving cars? In the debut of Season 2 of ‘Futurismo,’ we get comfortable with uncertainty and frame the tough questions the industry must address.

In our last (for now) Byte, we talk about how to start children on the path to becoming the next great automotive inventor -- with advice from Tony Fadell, a co-creator of some of Apple's biggest products.

Blegh! Will the autonomous era turn the self-driving car into a vomit rocket? In our latest Byte, car designers tackle a gross, unexpected side-effect of more free-time in the car.

Automakers and startups have been coming up with new devices to transport people over short distances. Hyundai showed an Ioniq scooter at CES. Audi has its own concept scooter that fits perfectly into its mobility concept car. Even Honda has something called the Uni-Cub, a vehicle that looks like a golf bag. So what's the deal? Why are carmakers spending time pitching something more suitable for college students rather than car-buyers? Automotive News Silicon Valley reporter Katie Burke, investigates.

In this weeks Futurismo Byte, "This is how we (will) jam," we host a competition between staff members to gauge the difficulty of matching two random individuals' music tastes. Meanwhile, Brian Hamilton of GraceNote, a music classification and discovery company, describes his idea to solve the challenge of picking the perfect tune while car-pooling.

In Futurismo Byte #1, our snap-shots of the quirky in the road to tomorrow, we look at how violent video game "Grand Theft Auto" is helping self-driving car engineers.

In the Season 1 finale of “Futurismo,” Automotive News’ podcast series about the future of the auto industry, we take a look at how vehicles will change in the age of ride-hailing — how they will work, their level of technology, their very nature.“Futurismo” sat down with experts from Lyft and the ArtCenter College of Design in Pasadena, Calif., to learn about the challenges of designing and engineering this new breed of car, one that will play a vastly different role in society. We also tell the story of the Taxi of Tomorrow, New York City’s effort to create the perfect shared vehicle of the future.

Season 1 of “Futurismo,” Automotive News’ podcast series about the future of the auto industry, has focused on how the rise of the car-sharing culture threatens to turn the vehicle manufacturing industry upside down. But does everyone agree that a revolution in mobility is predestined? In Episode 5 of Season 1 of “Futurismo” we talk to some of the skeptics.

Episode 4 of Season 1 of “Futurismo,” envisions the transportation market as it looks a quarter-century from today. Automotive News staff reporter Hannah Lutz is our future forecaster, chatting with experts in the car ownership and sales realm to examine the potential of mobility. We talk to the self-described Doom Angel of Disruption, meet a car dealer anxious about his business and profile one start-up that trying to make mobility "so easy that it's free."

Episode 3 of Season 1 of “Futurismo,” takes a look at carmaker strategies in an era of mobility. We drop by Ford Motor Co. headquarters in Dearborn, MI, to see how its globe-spanning experiments are affecting change at home, talk to experts about the gold rush to pick up mobility companies, and see how start-ups and carmakers can collaborate in the coming third age of car-sharing.

Episode 2 of Season 1 of “Futurismo,” Automotive News’ new podcast series about the next quarter century in the auto industry, introduces some of the foot soldiers in the mobility revolution — the founders and CEOs of transportation start-ups. They aren’t necessarily the people you’d expect. There’s a mother who was inspired to start a business as she ferried her kids around town; a former eBay executive whose service allows anyone with a car to post it on his website for others to use; and a San Francisco entrepreneur who works with local leaders in the Bay Area to test out ideas that encourage car-pooling.And there is the story of an Iraq War veteran who set up an app that churns through all transportation options — buses, trains, car-and-bike-sharing, whatever — to plot the best route to a destination. The app soon caught the attention of one of the world’s largest automakers.

Episode 1 of Season 1 of our new podcast, “Futurismo,” we set out to find people around the country who are living without the burden and convenience of car ownership. Naturally, they are all 20-somethings living in big urban areas where it’s easy to go without a car, right? Actually, no. We discovered busy people in rural regions and in large sprawling metropolitan areas with precious little public transportation who are doing quite nicely without a vehicle. We found car fanatics and truck drivers and people of all ages who have gone off the car-ownership grid. Meet the converts to the cult of car-sharing.

More than 70 years ago, a car company enlisted a theater set-piece designer to imagine what the cities of tomorrow would look like. His work quickly shaped how people envisioned the world of tomorrow. In our preview for Futurismo, we talk about the inspiration behind Automotive News' first podcast, announce the theme of season one and discuss how the future of cars may not be about cars at all.