Brooklyn College graduate Sam Schwartz ‘69—widely known as “Gridlock Sam”—has co-authored a new book of Autokill, with fellow alumnus Cary Pepper ‘70.
Set in 2036, the novel explores the promise and peril of connected autonomous vehicles through a fast-paced story of artificial intelligence, cybersecurity, and the future of transportation. Blending suspense with timely questions about technology, public policy, and society, Autokill offers readers a thought-provoking look at a world where driverless cars become both indispensable and potentially deadly. The New York Times published a feature on Autokill on Aug. 10 and you can read that here. The New Yorker called Schwartz’s previous book on autonomous vehicles, No One at the Wheel, “A clearheaded bible for the twenty-first-century road.”
Sam Schwartz helped Brooklyn College kick off its Tow Mentor-in-Residence program in 2022.
Before becoming president and CEO of Sam Schwartz Engineering, Schwartz served as the NYC traffic commissioner and the chief engineer of the NYC Department of Transportation. Widely known as “Gridlock Sam” because he popularized the term during the 1980 NYC transit strike, Schwartz specializes in creative problem-solving for seemingly intractable situations, finding ways to move traffic better, make pedestrians safer, and add sidewalks and green space to communities.
In 2022, Schwartz visited Brooklyn College for a keynote address titled, “Transportation and Public Health: Inextricably Linked,” as part of the college’s Tow Mentor-In-Residence program. In 2025, Hunter College of CUNY established the Sam Schwartz program for Transportation Research at its Roosevelt House Public Policy Institute, where he currently teaches transportation policy to both graduate and undergraduate students.
Playwright, novelist, and screenwriter Cary Pepper.
Pepper is a playwright, novelist, and screenwriter whose plays have been presented throughout the United States and internationally. Pepper earned his Bachelor of Arts in English Literature in 1970 from Brooklyn College and completed graduate coursework in the Department of Theater with a concentration in directing. Pepper was recently featured in San Francisco Senior Beat, and you can read that here.
