Ghost Road

For decades we have tried to build a car that will drive itself. Anthony M. Townsend's Ghost Road argues convincingly that the driverless car is a red herring. When self-driving technology infects buses, bikes, delivery vans, and even buildings, a wild, woollier, future awaits.

Technology will transform life behind the wheel into a hi-def video game that makes our ride safer, smoother, and more efficient. Meanwhile, autonomous vehicles will turbocharge our appetite for the instant delivery of goods, making the future as much about moving stuff as it is about moving people. For-profit companies will link the automated machines that move us to the cloud, raising concerns about mobility monopolies and privatization of “the curb.” Our cities and towns will change as we embrace new ways to get around.

Ghost Road explains where we might be headed together in driverless vehicles, and the choices we must make as societies and individuals to shape that future.

“"Well-researched, and at times deeply disturbing... This fascinating and complex book will strike a chord with technophiles."”

"Today, Townsend foresees a future of “ghost roads” full of driverless corporate vehicles satisfying a growing appetite for instant delivery of goods..." -- Nature
"Some readers will feel that Townsend has sketched out a future with vast possibilities; to other it will seem like a nightmarish vision where robots effectively control our movements. Both groups, however, will learn a lot." -- Alistair Dalton - Scotland on Sunday

Anthony M. Townsend is the author of Ghost Road and Smart Cities, and the president and founder of Star City Group, a strategic foresight and urban planning studio. He lives in Jersey City, New Jersey.

Praise for Anthony M. Townsend and Smart Cities"Townsend [is] the rare technologist who is in the know without being in the tank." - Daniel Brook, New York Times Book Review"An ambitiously wide-ranging, admirably clear-eyed, and ultimately humanistic guidebook to the connected city." - Tom Vanderbilt, author of Traffic"Compelling...Townsend begins a conversation." - Melanie E. Moses, Nature"Anthony Townsend's terrific book looks at the historic relationship of urban and industrial development to new technologies." - Architecture Today"Townsend's interest in smart cities is more than merely technological: he offers an entertaining history of urban planning's visionaries and villains, the technological breakthroughs and the spectacular failures that brought us to this crossroads." - Tim Smedley, New Scientist

This item is eligible for free returns within 30 days of delivery. See our returns policy for further details.