The Self-Driving Car: A Media Machine for Posthumans?

This article discusses the self-driving car as a media machine, thinking about its character and broader implications from media archaeological and posthumanist perspectives. Self-driving or autonomous vehicles challenge traditional ideas about agency. Car culture has usually been considered human-centered. While there have been concerns about the “human factor” and the consequences of poor and distracted driving, the human behind the steering wheel has also been considered a guarantee of safety. The introduction of the self-driving car displaces the human from an active role as an agent and introduces forms of material agency as a replacement. This shift has huge consequences, which will be explored from various perspectives. The study will also situate the self-driving car historically within plans about automated highways, also discussing their discursive manifestations within popular media culture. The study introduces the idea of “traffic dispositive”, which it applies on multiple levels. One of the basic points underlying the discussion is that the autonomous car can never be fully autonomous. It is linked with data networks and other frameworks of factors that affect its uses and also its potential passengers. We must ask: How will the potential adoption of self-driving cars affect the human/posthuman relationship?