How so, since that's Bloomberg Businessweek quoting Mr. Hotz? https://archive.ph/ZnqFl
> “It’s a scam,” says George Hotz, whose company Comma.ai Inc. makes a driver-assistance system similar to Tesla Inc.’s Autopilot. “These companies have squandered tens of billions of dollars.”
The companies are a scam, not the technology. By Hotz words.
Yes, that's why I asked. According to the CleanTechnica article, Mr. Hotz is specifically referring to "autonomous cars", not companies, being a scam.
> George Hotz, the serial entrepreneur who founded self-driving startup Comma.ai, has this to say about autonomous cars: "It’s a scam".
Going back to the original source I linked to above, "Even After $100 Billion, Self-Driving Cars Are Going Nowhere", still effectively says "self-driving cars are a scam", and Mr. Hotz's quote is still being used to support that thesis.
So I think you're incorrect, but I also think the article's original author took Mr. Hotz's quote out of its original context, and then the interpretation was mangled further during syndication.
It starts as follows: > In a lengthy interview with Bloomberg News, republished by Autoblog, George Hotz, the serial entrepreneur who founded self-driving startup Comma.ai, has this to say about autonomous cars: “It’s a scam. These companies have squandered tens of billions of dollars.”
Which is likely accurate reporting of what he said.
Meanwhile, pouring money into something that doesn't work is par for the course in tech. Musk saying "it's almost ready" is a scam. So I disagree with half of George's statement there myself.
> has this to say about autonomous cars: “It’s a scam. These companies have squandered tens of billions of dollars.”
Hotz says that companies have used lots of money, so to me it looks like he is referring to the companies and not the technology.
But reading a bit more, it's all to vague and the writer of the article made it really difficult to understand what's really being said here. It can be interpreted multiple ways.
Although I'm in the skeptic camp for self-driving readiness, all writing should be fair and clear about it. I'm surprised that power-assisted human control of stuff is so far behind, all we have is lane assist and stuff like that. You'd think we'd have haptic pothole anticipation or seats that cringe a little when someone roars up from behind by now.