
Uber’s self-driving car unit was burning $20M a month - smallgovt
https://techcrunch.com/2019/03/12/ubers-self-driving-car-unit-was-burning-20-million-a-month/
======
linuxftw
Uber's self-driving car killed a person because it had it's emergency braking
system disabled due to too many false positives [1]

That's all that ever needs to be said about Uber's self driving system, the
company should be disbanded and whomever the highest-level person in the
company knew vehicles were operating in such a way should be imprisoned.

1: [https://techcrunch.com/2018/05/24/uber-in-fatal-crash-
detect...](https://techcrunch.com/2018/05/24/uber-in-fatal-crash-detected-
pedestrian-but-had-emergency-braking-disabled/)

~~~
AnaniasAnanas
Uber's self-driving car killed a person because its driver was playing on his
phone rather than doing his job.

~~~
SilasX
In a sense, I want to agree. That was a big no-no on her part.

But ... for a project like this, it's the kind of thing they should have
planned for and could have easily worked around.

First of all, Uber's setup was to have one person do both the analytics
monitoring and safety roles. That's ridiculous. The safety person needs to
focus on that alone.

Second, for any boring job, it's _expected_ that people will tend to mentally
check out, and you should design it so that a single checkout doesn't cascade
to death. They could have had a periodic "press this button to prove you're
paying attention", or limited the employee from bringing any device except a
limited one with no distractions.

So yeah, she shouldn't have been watching a movie, but Uber shouldn't have had
better safeguards for the inevitable attention drift.

~~~
aaomidi
Yep. My local YMCA requires lifeguards to switch every 15 minutes.

~~~
SilasX
Smirking at how YMCA has better safeguards for attention drift around pool
safety than Uber does around road safety.

------
W-Stool
I wonder if truly autonomous vehicles turn out to be another "so near but so
far" experiences like nuclear fusion - when I was a kid, electricity courtesy
of nuclear fusion reactors would be "too cheap to meter". Seems like ever
since the industry keeps saying "We're nearly there - we just need to build a
bigger one". I truly wonder if self-driving cars might turn out to be the same
kind of thing.

~~~
paxys
The difference is that nuclear fusion is "all or nothing", while self driving
technology has a lot of real world benefits even if we never get to fully
autonomous vehicles.

~~~
ghaff
Yes, "uncanny valley" aside. But one of those benefits is not having a
driverless taxi. It's assistive driving technology that can make driving your
car easier and safer.

~~~
W-Stool
I think you are right. Rented a new vehicle recently on a trip and it had
blind spot detectors - it would tell you when a vehicle was in one of the
traditional blind spots. I thought this was great, easy to understand and thus
trust.

~~~
RandomBacon
It is actually possible to completely remove the blind spot in the lane next
to you.

[http://pages.cs.wisc.edu/~gdguo/driving/BlindSpot.htm](http://pages.cs.wisc.edu/~gdguo/driving/BlindSpot.htm)

People don't like to do this because then they can't see the side of their own
car in the mirror.

Perhaps that should be added to driving tests. You shouldn't get a license if
you don't know how to make the car safe to drive in.

~~~
RandomBacon
Someone downvoted me, and I'm not sure why. Am I incorrect by saying it's
possible to completely remove the blindspot? It has been in ever car I've
owned, rented, or borrowed.

Am I wrong in stating it's because people want to see the side of their car?
It was for me when I first started driving and for everyone else I've asked.

Is it because of my belief that people should only be licensed to drive if
they can do so safely?

If I'm wrong, please give me the opportunity to learn what you believe is
right. I'm open to improving myself, and recognize that I am not, nor ever
will be 100% right in everything.

~~~
zazen
I didn't downvote you, but I can guess why you might have been downvoted. Your
comment is a) off-topic in a thread about automation, and b) presumptuous to
the point of arrogance in assuming that your preferred way of aligning the
mirrors is the one true safe way.

Many people might reasonably believe that the traditional alignment we were
taught, with the look-over-the-shoulder to check the blind spot that we were
also traditionally taught, is safe. It comes across as aggressive when you
suggest no-one should be allowed a license without converting to your new
method.

~~~
RandomBacon
Thank you. I agree it's off-topic, I'm sorry.

------
nategri
It has been a long journey but I think I'm finally becoming a self-driving
skeptic. And those cars driving around out in Arizona right now might as well
be driving around in the Matrix---nowhere near a general purpose solution.

------
Trisell
I feel like we are going to look back at Uber in like 10 years as the 'golden
age' of startups. Where money was no object and it only mattered how much you
'produced' on your way to an IPO.

In 20 years we will have the Wolf of SV movie about Uber.

~~~
JetSpiegel
> In 20 years we will have the Wolf of SV movie about Uber.

Is this not Sillicon Valley already, the TV Show?

------
torbjorn
Since Uber is about to ipo I have been hearing people question, "How can
people highly value a company that is losing so much money???"

The reason is (the potential for) self driving cars. Once/if there is mature
self driving tech, they can eliminate the cost of having to pay human drivers.
When you consider Uber in that light, as long as they don't run out of money
before self driving maturity, then their high valuation makes sense.

This may seem obvious to some but this fact has been entirely absent from
every conversation I have heard about the valuation of uber's IPO ( looking at
you Marketplace's "Make Me Smart" ;). It seems like it is taboo to point out
that Uber needs to eventually eliminate all their human drivers from the
equation.

~~~
smallgovt
What I don't understand is why people think Uber will have a competitive
advantage vs Waymo et al. once self-driving cars are adopted.

Without a moat, there will be little to no long-term profits.

~~~
torbjorn
Because people are used to their brand and app? Good point.

------
epa
Thats it?

