They were unwilling to legally obtain a self-driving license in California because they did not want to report "disengagements" (situations in which a human driver has to intervene).
Uber would just set their self-driving cars free and eat whatever fine/punishment comes with it.
This is a strange question to ask. The regulation is not there to benefit Uber, it is to benefit public good. Very few companies would follow regulation if it was a choice. The setup of such regulation would be for it to be criminal to not comply. And if Uber could not operate in California (or the USA) if they did not comply, it would in their interest to provide the requested information.
Uber has shown very often that they are willing to break the law. It seems within their modus-operandus to just ignore these rules.
Essentially, Uber engages in regulatory arbitrage but taking into account the cost-benefits of breaking the law. I.e. if it breaks the law but is profitable for them, they seem to do it.
Sure, so make the regulation expensive. For example, if a company is not in compliance then the executive team can be charged for any crime their self-driving toy committed under their guidance.
I don't believe this will be effective. Thinking back to the VW scandal, did any executive get punished for this? Same question for the Equifax breach and the insider trading issue.
My 'money' is on people with money figuring out loopholes, like plausible deniability.
Yes, it means that we need to write new regulations with real teeth, and vote out the politicians on all sides of the aisle that continue to punt on this issue.
One of my biggest complaints about the self-driving car space is that real lives are at stake; light-touch "voluntary" rules suitable for companies that publish solitaire clones aren't going to cut it here.
Very cynical but - if your self-driving is way behind of your competitors- wouldnt it help to have your lousy car in a accident - so that your competitors get hit with over-regulation and you thus kill a market- on which you cant compete?
I‘m quite sure this would backfire A LOT in terms of brand damage. Uber in a sense made history today and now has actual blood on their hands. And if such a strategy should EVER leak (Dieselgate anyone?), people are going to prison.
GM killed 124 people with faulty ignition switches[1], yet the brand still survived. It's a cost calculation: will the brand damage outweigh the benefit to the company? Sadly, human lives don't factor into that equation.
Sadly, that’s a common occurrence with big automakers.
I can’t say anything about GM‘s rep in the US, but here in Europe they are not doing so well. Chevrolet was killed in 2015, and Vauxhall/Opel are doing only ok-ish. Chevy had SO many recalls in the years before they killed it.
No, because what you risk is associating your brand with death, rather than AD.
Uber already has a terrible reputation with everyone in the tech industry for the sexism, bullying, law breaking, and IP theft. Do they really want to be the self-driving car company with a reputation for killing people?
It doesn't take a lot for people to think "Maybe I'll take a lyft" or "Maybe I'll ban uber from London because of their safety record"[0].
They aren't going to kill the market for this - the other players not only have big incentives to make sure they look safe, but you've got a really unique problem when your biggest competitor is a company that controls access to news and which adverts your customers will see.
It's a cynical approach, but they could be playing both angles. Take enough risks that maybe you do succeed and you can cut your costs enormously by actually having SDCs. But if you fail, you also protect yourself by taking the competition down with you.
Maybe they start paying compensation to the family, making sure that they're set even if you fail - firmly stepping into mafia territory.
Still, corporations, while being essentially a different kind of life, are not entirely separate entities - they are composed of people. Fear of jail might just be enough to get some high-level executives to exert proper influence on the direction of the corporation.
Oh, contrair- if you have a decade sitting unemployed in a room- and you get a chance, by taking all the responsibilities and liabilitys, to live your golden years in the sun- what would you have to loose?
Possibly there's enough business risk that if Uber doesn't, someone else will, and then they will have SDCs but Uber won't, and then Uber will go bankrupt just about instantly.
They were unwilling to legally obtain a self-driving license in California because they did not want to report "disengagements" (situations in which a human driver has to intervene).
Uber would just set their self-driving cars free and eat whatever fine/punishment comes with it.