I, For One, Welcome Our New Self-Driving Overlords

Self Driving Roadkill 29 Comments

CNBC;

General Motors’ Cruise on Thursday announced internally that it will lay off 900 employees, or 24% of its workforce, the company confirmed to CNBC.

The layoffs, which primarily affected commercial operations and related corporate functions, are the latest turmoil for the robotaxi startup and come one day after Cruise dismissed nine “key leaders” for the company’s response to an Oct. 2 accident in which a pedestrian was dragged 20 feet by a Cruise self-driving car after being struck by another vehicle.

The company had 3,800 employees before Thursday’s cuts, which also follow a round of contractor layoffs at Cruise last month. Affected employees will receive paychecks until Feb. 12 and at least an additional eight weeks of pay, plus severance based on tenure.

Update: Things are going super-duper good at GM this week.

29 Replies to “I, For One, Welcome Our New Self-Driving Overlords”

    1. … an Oct. 2 accident in which a pedestrian was dragged 20 feet by a Cruise self-driving car after being struck by another vehicle.

      Never one to argue with your sound judgement, Burton … but the technology will literally NEVER “be there” … as real life is entirely too random and unpredictable. Trouble is … our culture is being operated by generations of spoiled brats who have grown up in perfect lives, with perfect parents, perfectly free of any need. They believe we live in a perfect world and that bad things happen to other people. And if bad things do happen … it’s because a Trump-supporting mouth breather caused global warming. Sorry, but that’s a pretty accurate description of the people pushing this “humanless” (read: inhumane) brave new world.

    3. anyone who uses computers knows the line “garbage in,garbage out”. We live in a “free range society”.. which is garbage in.. there are too many variables for a computer to handle in this world of ours.. so, accidents are to be expected.

    1. TBF … their FIRST mistake was testing their driverless cars in San Francisco. Why? Because the Uber-Driver, and Cab Driver UNIONISTAS have “progressively” stepped-up their attacks against driverless cars since its rollout.

        1. Well, if you’re writing messages in chalk, a blank slate might be better. Of course, you can write in chalk on a Hindu driver, too, but have you ever tried wiping one of those buggers clean?

      2. I do recall that a stated goal of Uber was to eventually replace humans with driverless vehicles. I’m not sure if that still is a thing or wether just skimming fees of the driver’s incomes is sufficient.

  3. Even if the technology “gets there”, the question should be: “Why?”

    Are wages for drivers so onerous that a company has to spend billions for this unwanted and untrusted tech?

    Am I missing something?

    1. One of the companies was found to be employing 1.5 people per vehicle to monitor them, and take control when necessary.

      Somehow that’s an improvement over just employing a driver…

    2. Maybe it makes it easier for Them to keep you controlled?
      I assume with everything attached to the internet of things They can take over the autopilot.
      Your car may be restricted from areas with some simple programming?
      Or you just can’t use it every second day?
      It’ll automatically make speeding impossible I’d guess.

    3. I was missing it too, until I realized they hate us and are trying to do everything to get rid of us completely. Which they can’t do until they figure out another way to get their dirty work done.

        1. It reminds me of my youth … when everyone was beautiful … and the girls so sexy … it hurt.

          Now … everything looks like it’s turning Japanese, turning Japanese-looking … I really think so!

    1. Thought experiment: Would you ever board a passenger plane without human pilots?
      Not this guy.
      I posed this question once in our monthly neighbourhood meeting in my garage…beer, darts, stupidity, the whole nine yards. 8 people in total and 4 of them said yes, not a problem.
      I’m not sure what that says.

  8. I’d like to know about the backroom deals going on right about now. GM was hemorrhaging money on this venture, and finally had to cut ties. It was so dire that they were forced to make the chops leading up to an election year without finding out who would be occupying the White House, and controlling the Congress in 2024.

    It it weren’t so urgent, they would have just coasted until 2024 with the hopes that big fat juicy federal subsidies were right around the corner. Or, perhaps, the reduction in work force is their holding pattern. Biden has a major problem. I suspect the union leadership is going to go 100% in for Biden (as expected). The workers, however, are going to be a mixed bag. Blue collars tend to like Trump more than your typical Republican candidate. So, they have them putting skin in the game. Vote for Biden, get subsidies, get your job back. Or, vote Trump, and watch your grocery bills decrease while being unemployed.

    Of course, all this is null and void when Nikki Haley ends up with the nomination.

  9. Bihden’s doble versus Orange Man Bad?
    I thought the choices 60’s-70’s-80’s-90’s-2000’s-2010’s were bad.
    At least the Blues Bros got something right.

  10. Like Disney, EV shops are headed for near or actual bankruptcy, even if subsidized . No one wants them, as they are a PITA and expensive. NO ONE WANTS THEM!!!!!

    We also do not want the public infrastructure either. EV owners: buy your own charging stations and keep away from any shared garages.

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