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Is Uber Doomed?

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06-22-2017 , 10:51 AM

#126

Alan C. Lawhon

veteran

Join Date: Dec 2006 Posts: 2,380

How "Bro Culture" Led To Downfall of Uber CEO

https://www.recode.net/2017/6/21/158...wler-blog-post

Last night on the way in to work, I was listening to a 2012 interview with Travis Kalanick - the now deposed ex-CEO of Uber - in which he was explaining his business philosophy and outlook on life. It was clear, from listening to his own words, that this is a man who believes "the rules" don't apply to him. In the aftermath of Ms. Fowler's devastating blog post, and other revelations which did not reflect well on Kalanick, (i.e. the YouTube video which went viral of him screaming at one of his employees), it became increasingly obvious that this guy has problems.

Fortune magazine (and other sources) have written quite a bit about Kalanick's downfall. It's another case of out-of-control pride and hubris gone to excess. This is just me reading between the lines, but I get the sense that Kalanick thought he was the second coming of Steve Jobs ... The thing though is that there is only one Steve Jobs.

06-22-2017 , 10:59 AM

#127

Alan C. Lawhon

veteran

Join Date: Dec 2006 Posts: 2,380

Quote:

Originally Posted by golfnutt

When I heard he made a sexist joke, I assumed it was related to sex. What he said was far worse though really. Implied that men are the ones that get things done on boards, and women just talk which is equated to fluff.

He couldn't have had worse timing making this "joke" at an Uber conference discussed sexism in the company.

It was especially stupid for Bonderman to crack his "joke" while board member Arianna Huffington was making a point. That just poured gas on the fire ...

03-19-2018 , 06:24 PM

#128

goofyballer

Carpal \'Tunnel

Join Date: Jun 2005 Posts: 70,719

In a first, a driverless car run by Uber (who else?) struck a pedestrian in Tempe, killing her

Quote:

The Uber vehicle was in autonomous mode with a human safety driver at the wheel when it struck the woman, who was crossing the street outside of a crosswalk, the Tempe police said in a statement. The episode happened on Sunday around 10 p.m. The woman was not publicly identified.

Uber said it had suspended testing of its self-driving cars in Tempe, Pittsburgh, San Francisco and Toronto.

03-19-2018 , 10:31 PM

#129

surftheiop

Pooh-Bah

Join Date: Mar 2006 Posts: 5,162

https://fortune.com/2018/03/19/uber-...ing-car-crash/

Looks like the car couldn’t have done much. But also was doing 38 in a 35, why in the world would they allow a self driving car to speed???? I assumed they would be going 34.999 miles an hour in a 35.

10-16-2018 , 05:37 PM

#130

goofyballer

Carpal \'Tunnel

Join Date: Jun 2005 Posts: 70,719

New Yorker: Did Uber Steal Google’s Intellectual Property?

Long article about the history of the Google vs. Uber dispute, including this:

Quote:

One of the group’s first objectives was figuring out how to give an autonomous car “eyes”: technology connecting lasers and cameras mounted on the roof to an onboard computer that visualized the road ahead, from traffic signs to pedestrians and other automobiles. Such systems had been created before, at universities, and each had taken years to build. Levandowski again devised a work-around. After joining Google, he had, on the side, created two independent companies, 510 Systems and Anthony’s Robots, which held the rights to technologies that he had developed for his autonomous motorcycle and other outside projects. As he saw it, Google could potentially skip years of redundant research if Project Chauffeur simply bought the necessary hardware from his firms. In effect, Levandowski was proposing to acquire crucial technology from himself, and pay for it with Google’s money.

Google said yes. Although some executives were aware of this unusual arrangement, others were in the dark. “At first, no one really understood that Anthony was selling us his own stuff, but people eventually figured it out,” one of Levandowski’s former colleagues told me. “It seemed shady, but at the same time everyone wanted to move as fast as possible, and this was an easy solution, so we didn’t ask a lot of questions. That ended up being a mistake.”

Quote:

Levandowski sometimes wore a custom-designed gray T-shirt, a gift from a colleague, that read “I Drink Your Milkshake”—a line from “There Will Be Blood,” Paul Thomas Anderson’s film about a murderously ambitious oilman. “He was that kind of guy,” the co-worker said. “You know, an *******. But a really gifted one. Our *******, I guess.”

Quote:

Page was adamant. According to internal Google e-mails, he ordered executives to “make Anthony rich if Chauffeur succeeds.” Two months later, Google bought 510 Systems for twenty-two million dollars. It also purchased Anthony’s Robots; in return, Levandowski was guaranteed a future payment tied to the total value of Project Chauffeur. Google agreed to give him a claim on ten per cent of the division’s eventual worth—a kind of shadow equity that would vest in four years. The stake eventually paid him more than a hundred and twenty million dollars, one of the largest such payouts in Google’s history.

lol this Levandowski guy is a world-class grifter, Trump should give him a job

And there's a crazy wild story later on that sounds like it's from a Hollywood movie about Levandowski making unauthorized changes to the car software, taking someone who was mad at him about it on a ride in a car to prove him wrong, and getting into an accident (and leaving the scene?!?) that seriously injured the other guy. Not sure if that's the kind of person you want running your autonomous driving project!

10-17-2018 , 10:31 AM

#131

Namath12

Carpal \'Tunnel

Join Date: Jan 2011 Posts: 55,849

$120 billion valuation for next year's (possible?) IPO

https://www.wsj.com/articles/uber-pr...ipo-1539690343

10-17-2018 , 02:31 PM

#132

Victor

Carpal \'Tunnel

Join Date: Jul 2003 Posts: 71,804

kinda buried the craziest part

Quote:

One day in 2011, a Google executive named Isaac Taylor learned that, while he was on paternity leave, Levandowski had modified the cars’ software so that he could take them on otherwise forbidden routes. A Google executive recalls witnessing Taylor and Levandowski shouting at each other. Levandowski told Taylor that the only way to show him why his approach was necessary was to take a ride together. The men, both still furious, jumped into a self-driving Prius and headed off.

The car went onto a freeway, where it travelled past an on-ramp. According to people with knowledge of events that day, the Prius accidentally boxed in another vehicle, a Camry. A human driver could easily have handled the situation by slowing down and letting the Camry merge into traffic, but Google’s software wasn’t prepared for this scenario. The cars continued speeding down the freeway side by side. The Camry’s driver jerked his car onto the right shoulder. Then, apparently trying to avoid a guardrail, he veered to the left; the Camry pinwheeled across the freeway and into the median. Levandowski, who was acting as the safety driver, swerved hard to avoid colliding with the Camry, causing Taylor to injure his spine so severely that he eventually required multiple surgeries.

The Prius regained control and turned a corner on the freeway, leaving the Camry behind. Levandowski and Taylor didn’t know how badly damaged the Camry was. They didn’t go back to check on the other driver or to see if anyone else had been hurt. Neither they nor other Google executives made inquiries with the authorities. The police were not informed that a self-driving algorithm had contributed to the accident.

Levandowski, rather than being cowed by the incident, later defended it as an invaluable source of data, an opportunity to learn how to avoid similar mistakes. He sent colleagues an e-mail with video of the near-collision. Its subject line was “Prius vs. Camry.” (Google refused to show me a copy of the video or to divulge the exact date and location of the incident.)

10-19-2018 , 09:54 AM

#133

roddy

adept

Join Date: May 2012 Posts: 983

Quote:

Originally Posted by surftheiop

I'm not sure about there, but in the UK and I guess Europe all cars are set to go under 3 miles the speed limit. Sounds to me like it is there and it would be doing bang on 35.

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