Uber Breaks The Law Again, Nearly Killing A Pedestrian, But Worries About Slowing Innovation

Uber just keeps on breaking the law. Will they ever face any consequences? Yesterday, on an initial test run of self-driving cars in San Francisco, an Uber car just blew through a red light. The car did have driver and it appears that he did try to stop the car as he reached the middle of the intersection. Uber immediately blamed the driver and suspended him, although it is unclear how they could make the determination the driver was at fault so quickly, other than the fact that the driver is ultimately responsible for the car. But, if they were relying on the driver to stop the car, it really doesn’t say much for the self-driving quality of the Uber vehicle. Take a look a the video:

If this wasn’t bad enough, the test run of this car was apparently done illegally. The California Department of Motor Vehicles immediately demanded that Uber cease these tests because the company did not have an autonomous vehicle testing permit. In classic Uber fashion, the company said that the test should not require a permit because the car had a safety driver and “complex rules and requirements could have the unintended consequences of slowing innovation”. This is Uber’s attitude toward any rule or regulation it encounters and the statement shows the breathtaking arrogance of the company. First of all, it’s pretty obvious that the car failed as a self-driving vehicle and having a safety driver was useless. By the time the driver realizes the car is going to plow through the light, there is simply no time to stop. Second, it’s pretty obvious that we might want to have rules and regulations to prevent technology that clearly does not work from actually killing people, like a pedestrian crossing the street. Uber’s attitude is downright puerile, like saying that requiring me to get a learner’s permit may slow my ability to learn how to drive. It may also slow down my ability to kill people, which I would hope Uber thinks is a good thing. But Uber doesn’t care whether it’s breaking the law or not. It’s only interested in trying to create a monopoly in some industry so they can finally make money, having lost over $2 billion last year by subsidizing car rides in a desperate effort to drive the regulated taxi industry out of business. For all our sakes (and our lives), let’s just hope Uber doesn’t try to get into the medical industry.