Mechanical Turk, meet Mechanical Filipino:
Mauricio Peña, the company’s Chief Safety Officer, confirmed under questioning that the Google subsidiary employs human operators abroad […]
“They provide guidance. They do not remotely drive the vehicles,” Peña told the Senate committee. “The Waymo vehicle is always in charge of the dynamic driving tasks, so that is just one additional input.”
When pressed on how many operators are located outside the United States, Peña said he did not have the breakdown available, escalating frustration from senators.
“It just seems kind of curious that you don’t know that answer,” one senator responded, before asking in which countries the operators are located.
“The Philippines,” Peña replied. […]
“Having people overseas influencing American vehicles is a safety issue,” the senator said. “The information the operators receive could be out of date. It could introduce tremendous cybersecurity vulnerabilities. We don’t know if these people have US driver’s licenses.” […]
“It’s one thing when a taxi is replaced by an Uber or a Lyft. It’s another thing when the jobs just go completely overseas,” the senator added.
But hey, at least these jobs aren’t being stolen by immigrants!
The insistence on personifying their products eg “the waymo asks for help”, “the human recommends” is such a conspicuous odd contortion that it’s almost certain there are legal + business imperatives behind it that they don’t talk about and won’t until a regulator forces them to. […]
They want to pay remote drivers from whatever country is currently cheapest, none of whom will have US state drivers’ licenses. claiming that they’re “advising, not driving” is the linchpin of their argument that that’s not as illegal and dangerous as it clearly is. they’re constructing legal fortifications before the deaths and lawsuits rise.
Let’s not forget that these companies are still immune from prosecution when one of their remotely-operated drones commits a moving violation, up to and including a killing. And that Waymo’s owner Google have stated in court filings that it is good for business if their competitors’ cars kill more people.
Previously, previously, previously, previously, previously, previously.
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