The Driver’s Seat Is Empty: AI Takes the Wheel

The driver’s seat is empty. How does the car keep moving? From the DARPA Grand Challenge to robotaxis in Los Angeles and Wuhan, follow the cameras, sensors and software taking on the task of driving—and the limits and responsibilities that remain. Narration: Clara Bennett Music: The Measured Mile 00:00 The empty seat 01:02 From desert to street 02:22 How the car sees 03:39 Driverless travel 04:27 Measuring safety 05:31 Wuhan 06:24 The journey continues Visual credits Waymo Jaguar I-Pace Interior In Motion — 9yz (CC BY-SA 4.0) https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/Fi... Waymo Jaguar I-Pace - Front Quarter View 02 — 9yz (CC BY 4.0) https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/Fi... Inside Waymo, DTLA, Jan 2026 — Alexis Doine (CC0) https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/Fi... Waymo One Jaguar I-Pace - 03 — Oleg Yunakov (CC BY-SA 4.0) https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/Fi... Sandstorm frontal (DARPA 2004) — Rupert Scammel (CC BY-SA 1.0) https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/Fi... Stanley2 — DARPA (U.S. government photograph) (Public domain) https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/Fi... Sebastian Thrun, Stanford 2006 (square crop) — "null0" (CC BY-SA 2.0) https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/Fi... Google Self-Driving Car — R Boed (CC BY 2.0) https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/Fi... Google self driving car at the Googleplex — Michael Shick (CC BY-SA 4.0) https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/Fi... Street traffic —    / editor   (CC BY 3.0) https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/Fi... Waymo Jaguar I-Pace - Roof Sensor Closeup — 9yz (CC BY 4.0) https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/Fi... Waymo Jaguar I-Pace - Side Sensor Closeup — 9yz (CC BY 4.0) https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/Fi... Waymo autonomous vehicle sensor dome — Oleg Yunakov (CC BY-SA 4.0) https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/Fi... Waymo cyclist 2025-09-28 003 — Anderseidesvik (CC BY-SA 4.0) https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/Fi... Waymo Jaguar at night — Votpuske (CC BY 4.0) https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/Fi... Baidu self-driving car in Wuhan, China — Kiraclyne (CC BY-SA 4.0) https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/Fi... Waymo Jaguar I-Pace in San Francisco 2023 dllu — Dllu (CC BY 4.0) https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/Fi... Licence links CC BY-SA 4.0: https://creativecommons.org/licenses/... CC BY 4.0: https://creativecommons.org/licenses/... CC0: http://creativecommons.org/publicdoma... CC BY-SA 1.0: https://creativecommons.org/licenses/... CC BY-SA 2.0: https://creativecommons.org/licenses/... CC BY 2.0: https://creativecommons.org/licenses/... CC BY 3.0: https://creativecommons.org/licenses/... Additional footage licensed from Envato Elements. Images resized and captioned; video excerpts resized and used without source audio. Creative Commons source adaptations retain the stated licences. Thumbnail: 9yz, CC BY-SA 4.0, cropped with title typography; thumbnail adaptation CC BY-SA 4.0.