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Pittsburgh Is Falling Out of Love With Uber's Self-Driving Cars (engadget.com)
A worn-out welcome: The city rolled out the red carpet as a host to Uber's driverless car experiments, but nine months later its mayor and residents have built up a list of grievances with the public-private partnership. From a report: While our experience in one of the autonomous vehicles was thankfully pretty safe, it wasn't long before reports of accidents and wrong-way driving began to surface during the first month of the operation. Nine months later, the relationship continues to sour, according to a report in the New York Times. The things Uber promised in return for the city's support -- including free rides in driverless cars, backing the city's $50 million federal transportation grant and jobs for a neighborhood nearby Uber's testing track -- have not materialized. The situation was an issue during the mayoral primary, too, with critics calling out incumbent Bill Peduto for not getting these agreements in writing from the ride-sharing company.
In the relationship between Uber and all of the other entities working on self-driving technology, I'm sort of reminded of the fictional work The Cryoptonomicon by Neal Stephenson. In the 1990s part of the story Goto Dengo represents the bulk of the entities trying to develop self-driving cars on their own, while Mr. Wing's part is played by Uber, trying to take without knowing/developing on one's own.
Now, obviously the backstory is entirely different, so the analogy entirely breaks-down if one looks at how the two entities started. That early relationship is more like Tonya Harding and Nancy Kerrigan with Uber playing the role of Harding.
Do not look into laser with remaining eye.
I complained after an Uber driver made me late through his bad driving. Uber apologised that he failed to follow the optimal route offered by his GPS. They didn't seem to want to acknowledge my point that he went further than failing to follow his GPS, but went against three no entry signs and drive the wrong way up a single lane one way road.
Pretty much.
I had an Uber driver leave as I was reaching for the door handle. The time limit for idling-for-customer had been exceeded. OK, true, but my GF was talking to him for the prior three minutes. And the ride we wanted to take was a lo-o-o-ong one. He figured that he would just collect his $10 'no-show' fee, and find another ride in a minute or two. I requested a Lyft, and that person got the long fare. RE the 'no-show' fee: I sorted it all out via email w/Uber, and the driver did not receive the $10 in free money.
Another time, I was in a Lyft. The driver and I were talking about how Uber doesn't do sufficient background checks, and will basically take anyone on as a driver. I noticed a car driving erratically nearby, noted it, and my Lyft driver wisely passed him to get away. Within 100 feet, at a standard-traffic-flow stop-light, the Uber driver rear-ended my Lyft-driver's car. Yes, literally! No injuries, so we went on our way, but what a serendipitous demonstration of how bad Uber drivers can be – just when the topic comes up...
Also, their CEO is a combative dickhead.
Map makers want to have exclusivity on maps (copyright), so they'll continue to put weird data into the maps.
What we actually need is federally funded programs to make accurate maps, and use DOT registration and testing fees to help pay for it. Because ultimately it's the car industry that benefits from proper maps, and the public who benefits from cars that do not drive the wrong way down the street.
(yeah, I know this will make heads explode in the libertarian groupthink)
“Common sense is not so common.” — Voltaire