This is Not Self Driving

Not withstanding its claims to have self-driving cars, Cruise needed direct human intervention roughly every 10 minutes.

This is not self driving, this is partially automated remotely operated cars, and they appear to have about the same reliability as a self-checkout register at the local Giant:

Two months ago, Kyle Vogt, the chief executive of Cruise, choked up as he recounted how a driver had killed a 4-year-old girl in a stroller at a San Francisco intersection. “It barely made the news,” he said, pausing to collect himself. “Sorry. I get emotional.”

To make streets safer, he said in an interview, cities should embrace self-driving cars like those designed by Cruise, a subsidiary of General Motors. They do not get distracted, drowsy or drunk, he said, and being programmed to put safety first meant they could substantially reduce car-related fatalities.

Now Mr. Vogt’s driverless car company faces its own safety concerns as he contends with angry regulators, anxious employees, and skepticism about his management and the viability of a business that he has often said will save lives while generating billions of dollars.

………

Half of Cruise’s 400 cars were in San Francisco when the driverless operations were stopped. Those vehicles were supported by a vast operations staff, with 1.5 workers per vehicle. The workers intervened to assist the company’s vehicles every 2.5 to five miles, according to two people familiar with is operations. In other words, they frequently had to do something to remotely control a car after receiving a cellular signal that it was having problems. 

(emphasis mine)

This is not a self driving car, this is a lie.  This is actual fraud. 

Fake it till you make it might work for making juice, or rating the attractiveness of fellow students, but not for sending 2 ton death machines cruising public streets.

If we enforced criminal fraud statutes as they should be ⅓ of Silly-Con founders and CEOs would be in the dock right now.

H/t Atrios