The Passengers

In Peterborough, Claire Arden feels her baby kick inside her and reviews a five-step plan on her phone. She reluctantly enters the driverless car her husband, Ben, recently purchased. The car authenticates her and departs for her husband’s office. A song from his playlist makes her cry.

The car deviates from its route, and its console screen goes blank. An automated voice announces a new destination with a two-and-a-half-hour travel time. The doors lock, and just as Claire gets the attention of someone in another car, the privacy windows turn opaque, trapping her inside. A male voice announces through the car’s system that he has taken control and that she’ll likely be dead in two and a half hours.

At a supermarket, Jude Harrison waits for his driverless car to charge, thinking that he won’t need it for much longer. On his phone, he watches a video of his partner, Stephenie, and him in Greece. When he tries to adjust the car’s temperature, the system is unresponsive.

Jude begins composing an impersonal group email before a man’s voice interrupts through the speakers, informing him that he’ll die in approximately two and a half hours. The car’s GPS displays new coordinates and traps him inside as the windows turn opaque.

Seventy-eight-year-old actress Sofia Bradbury travels in her car with her dog, Oscar, on the way to a charity event. She drinks brandy, complains about her fading career, and worries about the fact that her husband, Patrick, will be there.

A male voice announces that her car has been hijacked and she may die in two and a half hours. Sofia dismisses the threat as a reference to a soap opera part she was offered to play an aged, dying sex worker, believing that her car has changed routes because she has been cast in the reality show she wants to be on. Excited by the prospect of a career comeback, she fixes her makeup and prepares to perform for the car’s cameras.

Police officer Heidi Cole and her husband, Sam Cole, are on a video call in their separate driverless cars, discussing their 10th wedding anniversary. Heidi tests Sam’s memory about their wedding, easily catching him in a lie without his knowledge. She thinks about their financial difficulties and Sam’s secrets.

After Sam announces a surprise trip to London, their connection is cut. Both notice that their cars’ GPS systems have been reprogrammed with unfamiliar routes. A different voice takes control of their communication channel.

In Leicester, Shabana Khartri leaves her home in a driverless taxi after her son, Reyansh, informs her that her abusive and controlling husband, Vihaan, has been arrested for human trafficking. Shabana hopes for a new life with her younger children, who are in another taxi.

Her hope is shattered when a man’s voice speaks through the taxi’s system; she doesn’t understand English but recognizes the word “die.” The dashboard monitor shows her terrified face alongside video feeds of other trapped Passengers, which don’t include those of her children. She tries to call Reyansh, but her phone doesn’t work.

Prefacing the chapter content is a government report outlining the rationale for the autonomous vehicle mandate: to dramatically cut vehicular accident fatalities, improve air quality, lighten traffic congestion, give people more free time, and reduce vehicle expenses. After explaining how driverless cars work, the report states that England’s goal is to complete the transition within 10 years.

Mental health nurse Libby Dixon dreads the second day of her mandatory jury duty. She feeds her rabbits and checks her phone for news about a man she has been searching for. As she walks through Birmingham, she reflects on her ex-fiancé, William, and deliberately avoids Monroe Street, the site of a traumatic memory.

Posts on a social media site preface the chapter content. The posts reveal confusion about why Facebook is displaying live feeds of people from inside their cars who appear to be “freaking out.”

On her way to the town hall, Libby runs into a colleague, Nia, and lies about why she isn’t at work. A flashback reveals that six months earlier, Libby met a man at a karaoke bar. They shared an instant connection but were separated when her friend was injured. Libby has been searching for him ever since. She arrives at the town hall for another day of the inquest.

Preceding the chapter content is a pop-science site outlining the five levels of autonomous cars.

Libby passes through a rigorous security checkpoint to enter the jury room. The jury foreman, Member of Parliament Jack Larsson, calls the Vehicle Inquest Jury to order. He distributes tablets to the jurors and begins the proceedings, stating that their purpose is to determine whether recent deaths involving autonomous vehicles were lawful.

Prefacing the chapter content is a list (on the Inquest Jury Duty website) of important points about the Vehicle Inquest Jury Duty procedure. Joining four government-appointed officials who serve specific roles, is a “randomly selected” person from the general public. This person, whose participation is mandatory, serves for five days and may not disclose their participation to anyone. The government protects all jury members’ identities for their safety.

In the jury session, as Jury Foreman Jack Larsson reads the rules, Libby observes her fellow jurors, noting that they’re all political appointees. She recalls how Jack silenced her the previous day when she challenged the group’s consensus. Feeling powerless, she listens as he warns the jury that the evidence for their next case is extremely graphic. Libby thinks it’s ironic that she was called to serve on this jury since she was part of the anti-autonomous vehicle protests that led to its existence. She reflects on the government’s stranglehold on the jury’s decisions.

Jude Harrison panics as his hijacked car speeds toward Birmingham. He can’t regain control; the car’s system simply responds “No” to his commands. Suddenly, Claire Arden’s voice comes through the speakers, and they realize that they’re in the same situation. Soon, Sam and Heidi Cole join the conversation.

The car’s dashboard screen activates, showing a live video feed of Jude’s face alongside smaller feeds of the other Passengers. Just as they begin to communicate, the Hacker mutes their audio.

Preceding the chapter content, a page from the “Zephertron Mark 5” instruction manual describes how extensive testing and data gathering ensure that autonomous cars can detect and adjust for specific weather conditions. The text reads like it’s from a sales brochure, not a manual.

The jury reviews graphic footage of a fatal accident, which triggers Libby’s traumatic memory of when her brother, Nicky, died by suicide on Monroe Street. The other jurors are quick to blame the “victim,” but Libby challenges their assumption and questions the AI’s decision. Jack Larsson dismisses her concerns.

Interrupting the inquest, a security operative projects a live news feed onto the main screen. It shows images of Claire and the other Passengers trapped in their cars.

A global news story, prefacing the chapter content, reports that some Level 5 autonomous cars in Britain apparently malfunctioned when passengers tried to leave the vehicles. After citing footage of “distressed passengers,” the story adds that the UK’s transport secretary has assured the public that the incident is being investigated and there is no cause for alarm.

Isolated again, Claire tries to call her estranged brother, Andy, but the car’s system informs her that communications are offline. She feels her unborn baby kick, which reminds her she isn’t alone. Using breathing techniques to calm herself, Claire vows to do whatever is necessary to survive for her son.

In the jury room, Libby stares at the screen in shock as she recognizes one of the Passengers as the man she met in Manchester, whom she has been looking for the last six months, and learns his name: Jude. As jury staff scramble, they lose control of the video feeds. Jack Larsson confirms multiple vehicles have been compromised. A news anchor reports that eight cars have been hacked and are converging on a single destination. More Passengers appear on screen, including Sofia Bradbury. The news then broadcasts the moment Jude was threatened, and Libby hears the Hacker call him by name.