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While Uber Technologies Inc. and Carnegie Mellon University announced a partnership to develop autonomous car technology in February, Uber's actions earlier in the year have left Carnegie Mellon's robotics research in jeopardy:
Carnegie Mellon University is scrambling to recover after Uber Technologies Inc. poached at least 40 of its researchers and scientists earlier this year, a raid that has left one of the world's top robotics research institutions in a crisis.
Uber envisions autonomous cars that could someday replace its tens of thousands of contract drivers. With virtually no in-house capability, the San Francisco company went to the one place in the world with enough talent to build a team instantly: Carnegie Mellon's National Robotics Engineering Center.
Flush with cash after raising more than $5 billion from investors, Uber offered some scientists bonuses of hundreds of thousands of dollars and a doubling of salaries to staff the company's new tech center in Pittsburgh, according to one researcher at NREC.
The hiring spree in January and February set off alarm bells. Facing a massive drain of talent and cash, Herman Herman, the newly elevated director of the NREC, made a presentation May 6 to staff to explain the situation and seek ideas on how to stabilize the center, according to documents reviewed by The Wall Street Journal.
The short presentation at the school here laid out the issues. In all, Uber took six principal investigators and 34 engineers. The talent included NREC's director, Tony Stentz, and most of the key program directors. Before Uber's recruiting, NREC had more than 100 engineers and scientists developing technology for companies and the U.S. military.
Original Submission
(Score: 5, Insightful) by PizzaRollPlinkett on Monday June 01 2015, @07:47PM
Wait until Uber folds, and they'll be back. Can't blame them for spending a few years making $ while they can. CMU ought to consider this a sabbatical or something. Uber can't possibly make self-driving cars before their business model implodes. Uber subtracts value from the marketplace by skimming money from transactions and not paying enough for people to maintain their own vehicles. Things like Uber are a cancer in the economic body. They can't possibly replace drivers with automation before they burn through all their money, even with the CMU brain trust.
Links:
http://www.buzzfeed.com/johanabhuiyan/what-uber-drivers-really-make-according-to-their-pay-stubs [buzzfeed.com]
http://www.washingtonpost.com/news/get-there/wp/2015/02/20/the-hidden-costs-of-being-an-uber-driver/ [washingtonpost.com]
(E-mail me if you want a pizza roll!)
(Score: 3, Interesting) by isostatic on Monday June 01 2015, @09:38PM
It's supply and demand. If the drivers don't make enough money, they won't drive, and prices will have to go up. Until then, invisible hand FTW!
However I don't travel via uber because of the price - I travel because the money goes off via credit card and I get a statement at the end of the month. No silly tipping, no drivers wanting cash "oh the card machine broke", and no fighting for receipts after a 16 hour day. On top of that the cars are always cleaner than a taxi or minicab, the drivers more professional, and you don't feel you're a burden to them.
Instead of standing in the rain trying to hail a cab, I get my phone out, book it, see exactly when it arrives, get in, travel, and leave. Every month I print off my statement and post it in with my expenses - job done.
(Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Monday June 01 2015, @11:51PM
It's supply and demand. If the drivers don't make enough money, they won't drive, and prices will have to go up. Until then, invisible hand FTW!
Those wages won't be going up with a large pool of unemployed and under-employed people in society to compete with.
(Score: 2) by isostatic on Tuesday June 02 2015, @12:07AM
So supply is high, and likely to remain high. The taxi lobby have generally failed (a few places they've won for now - like Germany). Where's the uber implosion going to come from? A competitor that can do the same thing but with a lower margin? Uber has enough cash to loss lead for a long time in markets where's there's like for like competition.
Ubers biggest risk is someone beating them to market with robotic vats, but if drivers are only netting $12 an hour, there's still room to be competitive for a long time even if tesla or Google gets an automatic car up and running. Think the hurdles for uber are bad, that will be nothing compared with johnnycab.