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The biggest engineering disaster Uber had was when it intentionally disabled the automatic safety brakes on their 'self driving' car and killed a person.

gambiting 6y ago
I don't know why you're getting downvoted. Making a crappy, slow app is nothing compared to conciously deciding to switch off the built-in autonomous breaking system in lieu of your own(which then doesn't work and kills a person). That's an engineering disaster, not a taxi going to the wrong city block a few times.
- jcranmer 6y ago
  Considering that the engineer describes his story as "the biggest engineering disaster I’ve ever had the misfortune of being involved in," I don't think it is relevant to his story that the self-driving pedestrian collision occurred. He isn't claiming--and even from the thread title, I wouldn't assume he is claiming--that this is the biggest engineering disaster ever, or even the biggest engineering disaster Uber faced.
  - gambiting 6y ago
    Yeah, I suppose that's fair enough.
- jonny_eh 6y ago
  They bloated the app so that it wouldn't be slow. The whole twitter thread is about that.
deeviant 6y ago
Less a engineering disaster and more a human one.
wbxp 6y ago
I was working at Uber ATG when Elaine Herzberg was killed. They kept the details secret from the other employees, citing fears of "too many cooks". I recall being offered grief counseling. Uber disabled Volvo's automatic emergency braking system, which probably would have saved Elaine, to develop their system on public streets. I left the company and took a pay cut to work on ethical robotics instead. https://www.washingtonpost.com/local/trafficandcommuting/pedestrian-in-self-driving-uber-collision-probably-would-have-lived-if-braking-feature-hadnt-been-shut-off-ntsb-finds/2019/11/05/7ec83b9c-ffeb-11e9-9518-1e76abc088b6_story.html https://www.washingtonpost.com/local/trafficandcommuting/ped...
- nojvek 6y ago
  Whoa. They disabled Volvo safety system. That’s nuts. My Toyota 2016 Rav has saved me a couple of times with the auto brakes and loud beeps. It was totally worth the 2k extra for the 7 radars and 6 cameras. I don’t care about L4 self driving. I really care about a car that is resilient to human mistakes and fatigue. Uber failed at that.

gambiting 6y ago

I don't know why you're getting downvoted. Making a crappy, slow app is nothing compared to conciously deciding to switch off the built-in autonomous breaking system in lieu of your own(which then doesn't work and kills a person). That's an engineering disaster, not a taxi going to the wrong city block a few times.

jcranmer 6y ago
Considering that the engineer describes his story as "the biggest engineering disaster I’ve ever had the misfortune of being involved in," I don't think it is relevant to his story that the self-driving pedestrian collision occurred. He isn't claiming--and even from the thread title, I wouldn't assume he is claiming--that this is the biggest engineering disaster ever, or even the biggest engineering disaster Uber faced.
- gambiting 6y ago
  Yeah, I suppose that's fair enough.
jonny_eh 6y ago
They bloated the app so that it wouldn't be slow. The whole twitter thread is about that.

deeviant 6y ago

Less a engineering disaster and more a human one.

wbxp 6y ago

I was working at Uber ATG when Elaine Herzberg was killed. They kept the details secret from the other employees, citing fears of "too many cooks". I recall being offered grief counseling. Uber disabled Volvo's automatic emergency braking system, which probably would have saved Elaine, to develop their system on public streets. I left the company and took a pay cut to work on ethical robotics instead. https://www.washingtonpost.com/local/trafficandcommuting/pedestrian-in-self-driving-uber-collision-probably-would-have-lived-if-braking-feature-hadnt-been-shut-off-ntsb-finds/2019/11/05/7ec83b9c-ffeb-11e9-9518-1e76abc088b6_story.html https://www.washingtonpost.com/local/trafficandcommuting/ped...

nojvek 6y ago
Whoa. They disabled Volvo safety system. That’s nuts. My Toyota 2016 Rav has saved me a couple of times with the auto brakes and loud beeps. It was totally worth the 2k extra for the 7 radars and 6 cameras. I don’t care about L4 self driving. I really care about a car that is resilient to human mistakes and fatigue. Uber failed at that.