Go back and re-read the GP, which was trying to draw some sort of moral equivalence between Uber and Velodyne:
"Why is it OK for the LIDAR company to make a blanket statement of innocence without proof, but not OK for Uber to do the same?"
This is a disingenuous question. It assumes facts not in evidence, to use the legal aphorism. Velodyne did not "make a blanket statement of innocence without proof". It made a very narrow and defensible claim, namely, that its product, when working properly under the conditions at the time, should have been able to detect the pedestrian. It is obviously true that there are "a ton of other variables" but that is a red herring with respect to the original question.
> Velodyne did not "make a blanket statement of innocence without proof".
I agree, if anything I supported this statement with my comment.
The difference is that regardless of the narrowness of their claim, it will have a broader impact on how people judge Uber. Nor do we even know if the Lidar was functioning properly, which is an assumption Velodyne is making when they made their claim.
We simply need more evidence before we can fully judge Uber. And before we can give Velodyne a complete pass in terms of the functionality of their Lidar.
"Why is it OK for the LIDAR company to make a blanket statement of innocence without proof, but not OK for Uber to do the same?"
This is a disingenuous question. It assumes facts not in evidence, to use the legal aphorism. Velodyne did not "make a blanket statement of innocence without proof". It made a very narrow and defensible claim, namely, that its product, when working properly under the conditions at the time, should have been able to detect the pedestrian. It is obviously true that there are "a ton of other variables" but that is a red herring with respect to the original question.