It looks a little like an ice-cream truck, lightly weaponized for inner-city work. It’s surmounted by a spinning laser turret and knobbed with cameras, radar, antennas, and G.P.S. His Lexus is what you might call a custom model. By the time he puts his hands back on the wheel and glances up at the road, half a minute has passed. Then he snaps the picture, checks it onscreen, and taps out a lengthy text message with his thumbs.
He holds his phone up to the window with both hands until the car is framed just so. Both cars are heading south on Highway 880 in Oakland, going more than seventy miles an hour, yet the man takes his time. He’s twisted halfway around in his seat, taking a picture of the Lexus that I’m riding in with an engineer named Anthony Levandowski. Illustration by Harry CampbellĪ case in point: The driver in the lane to my right.
It never gets drowsy or distracted, or wonders who has the right-of-way.