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Interesting, military only gave ~$1M for such an ambitious project while Uber is burning billions a year and could easily afford this. My speculation is that t

Interesting, military only gave ~$1M for such an ambitious project while Uber is burning billions a year and could easily afford this. My speculation is that this partnership is first and foremost an attempt to provide Uber with a patina of respectability for this attempt and access to military technical expertise. Uber just crashed and burned on self driving, something it desperately needs to quench its towering money fires. Uber's investors know that. Therefore, Uber needs to constantly appear to be "innovating" in flashy ways to keep its investors at bay with seductive promises of even greater riches. This, even if the entire idea of flying cars driven by normal humans is insane or worse, piloted by a company known for breaking rules (now in Aviation of all things!) and have the dubious honor of being the first to kill a woman with self-driving AI. It helps to have connections to get these contracts yo. And of course, yet another major American company cooperating with defense. Military-industrial complex indeed. Every peaceful venture must be tied to the killing machine. All the cool kids are, like Google and its TF support for drone assassinations. EDIT: added technical expertise to 2nd paragraph

walshemj 8y ago
Well maybe its a cheap way of getting access to the research larger drones for resupply in the field
kvartz 8y ago
According to Gizmodo report military is using Google's Tensor Flow units for footage processing, it would be fair to assume that it's simply a trial contract to see if they can process some of that footage. That could potentially mean government contracts for private companies going to the lowest bidder, some time in the near future.
- make3 8y ago
  tensorflow is a machine learning API. you're thinking of TPUs
ransom1538 8y ago
"Interesting, military only gave ~$1M for such an ambitious project" I imagine this is just a test. They are blowing the cash with 99% certainty nothing will come out of it. BUT, if headway is made, it could quickly become hundreds of millions.
Donald 8y ago
This is a cooperative research and development agreement ("CRADA"), which is generally a technology sharing vehicle. Money flows from the non-federal party to the federal party on these agreements. Looks like ARL is matching the funds, so Uber is putting $500k on the CRADA and ARL will reciprocate with $500k in sole-source funding on an actual contracting vehicle. I'd be surprised if the $500k paid for anything more than a proof of concept demonstration on both sides.
- killjoywashere 8y ago
  I have done multiple CRADAs and frankly believe they are the most underutilized tool in the tech industry, they're the intellectual equivalent of buying mining rights for $5/acre. The government has staggeringly interesting problems that need solving and sole access to some very interesting data, which they will happily share as long as you bring your own pick-axe and shovel. Go to federallabs.org and start shopping. It's not Amazon, you'll have to actually go to some of these places and meet the custodians of the problems and data, but it's worth it. I've said Google is where the future falls from the sky like rain. These labs are like the Mississippi River basin, all the water goes here. The key is prospecting. You want to look around, get a good idea of how big a particular reserve is, and go for something big. You may have to start small, but keep your eye on the prize and work up a glide slope. You can get there. The law was created so you can get there. Key programs * Veterans Affairs * DoD: too many labs to name, coordinated by each service, ONR, AFRL, and ARL * NOAA * DoE * DoI * DHS Really, get a look at the Death and Taxes Poster if you want to shop by category. But the labs are the shelves lined with product you need to shop through. https://www.timeplots.com/products/death-and-taxes-2016 https://www.timeplots.com/products/death-and-taxes-2016
  - oaxacaoaxaca 8y ago
    That's super interesting. Would you be willing to share some of your background on this? I'm quite curious about this route.
    - killjoywashere 8y ago
curiousDog 8y ago
I guess they’re starting their IPO roadshow by trying to stay in the news as much as possible.
- ErikAugust 8y ago
  With as flimsy as this is, is it an ICO* roadshow?
Arubis 8y ago
That, and they just made it militarily important that they continue to exist.
- ramzyo 8y ago
  Not really - a $1 million CRADA doesn't make a company's existence important or guaranteed in the eyes of the military. If the technology is deployed, different story.
ikeyany 8y ago
> And of course, yet another major American company cooperating with defense. Just wanted to point out that a large chunk of technological innovation in the past century has roots in the military. Almost all communications protocols had origins in defense.

walshemj 8y ago

Well maybe its a cheap way of getting access to the research larger drones for resupply in the field

kvartz 8y ago

According to Gizmodo report military is using Google's Tensor Flow units for footage processing, it would be fair to assume that it's simply a trial contract to see if they can process some of that footage. That could potentially mean government contracts for private companies going to the lowest bidder, some time in the near future.

make3 8y ago
tensorflow is a machine learning API. you're thinking of TPUs

ransom1538 8y ago

"Interesting, military only gave ~$1M for such an ambitious project" I imagine this is just a test. They are blowing the cash with 99% certainty nothing will come out of it. BUT, if headway is made, it could quickly become hundreds of millions.

Donald 8y ago

This is a cooperative research and development agreement ("CRADA"), which is generally a technology sharing vehicle. Money flows from the non-federal party to the federal party on these agreements. Looks like ARL is matching the funds, so Uber is putting $500k on the CRADA and ARL will reciprocate with $500k in sole-source funding on an actual contracting vehicle. I'd be surprised if the $500k paid for anything more than a proof of concept demonstration on both sides.

killjoywashere 8y ago
I have done multiple CRADAs and frankly believe they are the most underutilized tool in the tech industry, they're the intellectual equivalent of buying mining rights for $5/acre. The government has staggeringly interesting problems that need solving and sole access to some very interesting data, which they will happily share as long as you bring your own pick-axe and shovel. Go to federallabs.org and start shopping. It's not Amazon, you'll have to actually go to some of these places and meet the custodians of the problems and data, but it's worth it. I've said Google is where the future falls from the sky like rain. These labs are like the Mississippi River basin, all the water goes here. The key is prospecting. You want to look around, get a good idea of how big a particular reserve is, and go for something big. You may have to start small, but keep your eye on the prize and work up a glide slope. You can get there. The law was created so you can get there. Key programs * Veterans Affairs * DoD: too many labs to name, coordinated by each service, ONR, AFRL, and ARL * NOAA * DoE * DoI * DHS Really, get a look at the Death and Taxes Poster if you want to shop by category. But the labs are the shelves lined with product you need to shop through. https://www.timeplots.com/products/death-and-taxes-2016 https://www.timeplots.com/products/death-and-taxes-2016
- oaxacaoaxaca 8y ago
  That's super interesting. Would you be willing to share some of your background on this? I'm quite curious about this route.
  - killjoywashere 8y ago

curiousDog 8y ago

I guess they’re starting their IPO roadshow by trying to stay in the news as much as possible.

ErikAugust 8y ago
With as flimsy as this is, is it an ICO* roadshow?

Arubis 8y ago

That, and they just made it militarily important that they continue to exist.

ramzyo 8y ago
Not really - a $1 million CRADA doesn't make a company's existence important or guaranteed in the eyes of the military. If the technology is deployed, different story.

ikeyany 8y ago

> And of course, yet another major American company cooperating with defense. Just wanted to point out that a large chunk of technological innovation in the past century has roots in the military. Almost all communications protocols had origins in defense.