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Why would Uber agree to such regulations? They were unwilling to legally obtain a self-driving license in California because they did not want to report "disen
by rjvir 9y ago
Why would Uber agree to such regulations?
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.
- hjnilsson 9y ago> Why would Uber agree to such regulations? 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.
- rocqua 9y agoUber 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.
- alextheparrot 9y agoSure, 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.
- eric-hu 9y agoI 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.
- aerotwelve 9y agoYes, 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.
- toomuchtodo 9y agoIt would be required by law. Violating the law would hold corporate officers criminally responsible.
- jonathankoren 9y agoHonestly, complying with the law has never been one of Uber’s strong suits.
- neaden 9y agoI guess my hopeful answer would be they start getting treated like Enron and someone high up goes to prison until they start to comply.
- gleenn 9y agoDid anyone actually go to prison from Enron?
- danso 9y agoYou mean, besides the CEO, Jeffrey Skilling? https://www.reuters.com/article/us-enron-skilling/former-enron-ceo-skillings-sentence-cut-to-14-years-idUSBRE95K12520130621 https://www.reuters.com/article/us-enron-skilling/former-enr... Enron's founder, Kenneth Lay, was also convicted and faced as much as life in prison. However, he died before sentencing: http://www.nytimes.com/2006/07/05/business/05cnd-lay.html http://www.nytimes.com/2006/07/05/business/05cnd-lay.html
- Scarblac 9y agoYes, their CEO is still in prison: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Jeffrey_Skilling https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Jeffrey_Skilling .
- LifeLiverTransp 9y agoVery 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?
- manmal 9y agoI‘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.
- smartician 9y agoGM 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. [1] http://money.cnn.com/2015/12/10/news/companies/gm-recall-ignition-switch-death-toll/index.html http://money.cnn.com/2015/12/10/news/companies/gm-recall-ign...
- manmal 9y agoSadly, 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.
- erk__ 9y agoOpel got bought back to europe by PSA the owners of Citröen and Peugeot in 2017 so they have a chance to turn it around.
- adrianmonk 9y agoIt'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.
- IncRnd 9y ago> Why would Uber agree to such regulations? Uber doesn't get to pick and choose what regulations they wish to follow. > Uber would just set their self-driving cars free and eat whatever fine/punishment comes with it. That sounds quite negligent and a cause for heightened repercussions if anything happens. The strange attitude you display is the _reason_ there are regulations.
- danso 9y agoUber ultimately backed down and applied for a California permit: http://fortune.com/2017/03/08/uber-permit-self-driving-cars-california/ http://fortune.com/2017/03/08/uber-permit-self-driving-cars-...
- s2g 9y agoThe start tossing executives in jail. It’s the only real solution to corporations misbehaving.
- LifeLiverTransp 9y agoCooperations will just start paying compensation for executive jail time - and replace executives at a accelerated rate. The only working regulation is one that is a existential threat to the company. Which means- huge financial punnishments.
- noobermin 9y agoSomething I'm surprised no one has considered seriously is revoking business licenses. That is a much more existential threat, literally.
- JetSpiegel 9y agoCorporate death penalty. It's the only way to be sure.
- Bizarro 9y ago...from orbit.
- ACow_Adonis 9y agoPhoenixing :(
- s2g 9y agoYou can’t return a decade sitting in a miserable cell.
- LifeLiverTransp 8y agoOh, 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?
- adrianmonk 9y agoPossibly 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.