- Exclusive: New York City says engineer who inspected Bronx building made grave error that likely led to collapse CBS New York
- Engineer in Bronx building collapse suspended for mistaking support beam months prior, Mayor Adams’ office say New York Daily News
- New York Suspends Engineer Who Inspected Bronx Building That Collapsed The New York Times
- NYC penalizes building engineer in wake of Bronx apartment building collapse Gothamist
- More than 100 people displaced as officials work to determine cause of Bronx building collapse – Bronx Times Bronx Times
Tag Archives: engineer
Laid-off Twitter software engineer calls job market ‘hot garbage’: ‘maybe I should go be a firefighter’ – Yahoo News
- Laid-off Twitter software engineer calls job market ‘hot garbage’: ‘maybe I should go be a firefighter’ Yahoo News
- Musk laughs at Twitter staff unaware of his job status: ‘treats people like…’ Hindustan Times
- Former Twitter Blue head who slept in office breaks silence days after Elon Musk fired her India Today
- ”Access To My Computer Was Cut”: Laid-Off Twitter Employee Accuses The Company Of Ghosting Him NDTV
- ‘People who remain after layoffs get demonized’ : Twitter employee who got fired after sleeping in office breaks silence Business Today
- View Full Coverage on Google News
‘It’s like a building where all the pieces are on fire’: Twitter engineer says layoffs created chaos and Elon Musk works in the office with 2 bodyguards – Yahoo Finance
- ‘It’s like a building where all the pieces are on fire’: Twitter engineer says layoffs created chaos and Elon Musk works in the office with 2 bodyguards Yahoo Finance
- Twitter insiders: We can’t protect users from trolling under Musk BBC
- Twitter Can’t Fully Tackle Child Abuse Or Disinformation Under Current Management, Report Says Digg
- Twitter is like ‘building where all the pieces are on fire’: engineer Business Insider
- Elon Musk pays out BBC for report saying Twitter can’t protect users from trolls TweakTown
- View Full Coverage on Google News
‘It’s like a building where all the pieces are on fire’: Twitter engineer says layoffs created chaos and Elon Musk works in the office with 2 bodyguards – Fortune
- ‘It’s like a building where all the pieces are on fire’: Twitter engineer says layoffs created chaos and Elon Musk works in the office with 2 bodyguards Fortune
- Twitter insiders: We can’t protect users from trolling under Musk BBC
- Twitter is like ‘building where all the pieces are on fire’: engineer Business Insider
- Twitter Can’t Fully Tackle Child Abuse Or Disinformation Under Current Management, Report Says Digg
- Elon Musk pays out BBC for report saying Twitter can’t protect users from trolls TweakTown
- View Full Coverage on Google News
Fired engineer who called Google AI ‘sentient,’ warns Microsoft Bing a ‘train wreck’ – Interesting Engineering
- Fired engineer who called Google AI ‘sentient,’ warns Microsoft Bing a ‘train wreck’ Interesting Engineering
- The fired Google engineer who thought its A.I. could be sentient says Microsoft’s chatbot feels like ‘watching the train wreck happen in real time’ Yahoo Finance
- ‘We do not understand these artificial people’: Ex-Google engineer compares AI chatbots to atomic bomb Business Today
- Ex-Google AI expert says that ‘unhinged’ AI is the ‘most powerful technology’ since ‘the atomic bomb’ Fox News
- The Google engineer who was fired after claiming the company’s chatbot is sentient says AI is the ‘most powerful’ tech invented ‘since the atomic bomb’ Yahoo! Voices
- View Full Coverage on Google News
The fired Google engineer who thought its A.I. could be sentient says Microsoft’s chatbot feels like ‘watching the train wreck happen in real time’ – Yahoo Finance
- The fired Google engineer who thought its A.I. could be sentient says Microsoft’s chatbot feels like ‘watching the train wreck happen in real time’ Yahoo Finance
- The Google engineer who was fired after claiming the company’s chatbot is sentient says AI is the ‘most powerful’ tech invented ‘since the atomic bomb’ msnNOW
- Ex-Google AI expert says that ‘unhinged’ AI is the ‘most powerful technology’ since ‘the atomic bomb’ Fox News
- The Google engineer who was fired after claiming the company’s chatbot is sentient says AI is the ‘most powerful’ tech invented ‘since the atomic bomb’ Yahoo! Voices
- Former Google engineer sounds alarm on a new AI gaining sentience TweakTown
- View Full Coverage on Google News
Tesla video promoting self-driving was staged, engineer testifies
Jan 17 (Reuters) – A 2016 video that Tesla (TSLA.O) used to promote its self-driving technology was staged to show capabilities like stopping at a red light and accelerating at a green light that the system did not have, according to testimony by a senior engineer.
The video, which remains archived on Tesla’s website, was released in October 2016 and promoted on Twitter by Chief Executive Elon Musk as evidence that “Tesla drives itself.”
But the Model X was not driving itself with technology Tesla had deployed, Ashok Elluswamy, director of Autopilot software at Tesla, said in the transcript of a July deposition taken as evidence in a lawsuit against Tesla for a 2018 fatal crash involving a former Apple (AAPL.O) engineer.
The previously unreported testimony by Elluswamy represents the first time a Tesla employee has confirmed and detailed how the video was produced.
The video carries a tagline saying: “The person in the driver’s seat is only there for legal reasons. He is not doing anything. The car is driving itself.”
Elluswamy said Tesla’s Autopilot team set out to engineer and record a “demonstration of the system’s capabilities” at the request of Musk.
Elluswamy, Musk and Tesla did not respond to a request for comment. However, the company has warned drivers that they must keep their hands on the wheel and maintain control of their vehicles while using Autopilot.
The Tesla technology is designed to assist with steering, braking, speed and lane changes but its features “do not make the vehicle autonomous,” the company says on its website.
To create the video, the Tesla used 3D mapping on a predetermined route from a house in Menlo Park, California, to Tesla’s then-headquarters in Palo Alto, he said.
Drivers intervened to take control in test runs, he said. When trying to show the Model X could park itself with no driver, a test car crashed into a fence in Tesla’s parking lot, he said.
“The intent of the video was not to accurately portray what was available for customers in 2016. It was to portray what was possible to build into the system,” Elluswamy said, according to a transcript of his testimony seen by Reuters.
When Tesla released the video, Musk tweeted, “Tesla drives itself (no human input at all) thru urban streets to highway to streets, then finds a parking spot.”
Tesla faces lawsuits and regulatory scrutiny over its driver assistance systems.
The U.S. Department of Justice began a criminal investigation into Tesla’s claims that its electric vehicles can drive themselves in 2021, after a number of crashes, some of them fatal, involving Autopilot, Reuters has reported.
The New York Times reported in 2021 that Tesla engineers had created the 2016 video to promote Autopilot without disclosing that the route had been mapped in advance or that a car had crashed in trying to complete the shoot, citing anonymous sources.
When asked if the 2016 video showed the performance of the Tesla Autopilot system available in a production car at the time, Elluswamy said, “It does not.”
Elluswamy was deposed in a lawsuit against Tesla over a 2018 crash in Mountain View, California, that killed Apple engineer Walter Huang.
Andrew McDevitt, the lawyer who represents Huang’s wife and who questioned Elluswamy’s in July, told Reuters it was “obviously misleading to feature that video without any disclaimer or asterisk.”
The National Transportation Safety Board concluded in 2020 that Huang’s fatal crash was likely caused by his distraction and the limitations of Autopilot. It said Tesla’s “ineffective monitoring of driver engagement” had contributed to the crash.
Elluswamy said drivers could “fool the system,” making a Tesla system believe that they were paying attention based on feedback from the steering wheel when they were not. But he said he saw no safety issue with Autopilot if drivers were paying attention.
Reporting by Hyunjoo Jin; Editing by Kevin Krolicki and Lisa Shumaker
Our Standards: The Thomson Reuters Trust Principles.
Grammy-Winning Engineer Mark Capps Shot by Police in Nashville – Rolling Stone
A Grammy-winning recording engineer accused of holding his wife and stepdaughter captive at gunpoint was killed after a SWAT team member shot him in Nashville Thursday afternoon, Variety reports.
Police fired on Mark Capps, 54, who was armed in his doorway and was wanted on aggravated assault and aggravated kidnapping warrants at the time of his death, according to local reports.
He was the son of the late guitarist Jimmy Capps, a member of the Musicians Hall of Fame and a part of the Grand Ole Opry, playing lead guitar in the house band.
Capps brought his 60-year-old wife and 23-year-old daughter into their family room at gunpoint at approximately 3 a.m., Metro Police spokesman Don Aaron said, per News Channel 5. “He told them if they called someone, he would kill them,” Aaron said. “They were extremely frightened by him and his actions toward them in not letting them leave.”
When he fell asleep around dawn, police said, the two women fled the residence and went to the Hermitage precinct where officers took statements and placed warrants against Capps. After the warrants were issued at 1:55 p.m, the SWAT team arrived at the Nashville home.
“Just after the arrest warrants were issued, SWAT was preparing in the event he barricaded himself inside,” Aaron stated. “He came to the door with a gun in hand. At that point, he was fatally shot. We have since learned there were cameras monitoring the outside of the home. He may have well seen them outside the residence. They were in SWAT gear and clearly marked to him as members of the police department.”
Capps, who was part of a well-known musical family in Nashville, worked with numerous country and gospel artists. His discography on his website lists Neil Diamond, the Chicks, Brooks & Dunn, Donna Summer, Olivia Newton-John and the Isaacs, Big & Rich, and Barry Manilow among many other collaborators.
According to Variety, Capps was fatally shot two days after his brother died, as indicated by his social media.
PS5 and PS4’s Lead Engineer Is Retiring from Sony
Sony hardware architect Masayasu Ito, who led the engineering work on both PS4 and PS5, is retiring at the end of September.
The 60-year-old engineer is currently the vice-president of Sony Interactive Entertainment, but according to Bloomberg, will step down from his position on October 1.
Ito first joined Sony in 1986, transferring to its console division in 2000. During his time at the company, he led the engineering of the PS3, PS4, and PS5, as well as the PS4 Pro.
Although not as famous as Sony hardware designer Mark Cerny, Ito was nevertheless instrumental to PlayStation’s success – a key engineer when it comes to the hardware and system software of the PS3, PS4, and PSP. Now, he will be leaving Sony behind, exiting as representative director as well as SIE vice president.
Ito began engineering consoles in the early ‘00s – largely working on PlayStation 1 and 2 peripherals including LCD Monitors for the PSOne. He then led the development of Sony’s popular handheld, the PSP. He was also heavily involved in the creation of Sony’s first dabble in VR, the original PSVR, as well as the PS5.
Ito’s exit marks the end of a 36-year-long career with Sony – originally working on audio equipment. Current director and deputy president Lin Tao will replace Ito when he steps down on October 1. Additionally, Kiichiro Urata will take over as representative director in his absence. However, it’s also assumed that Cerny will remain as lead designer for Sony’s next generation of consoles.
That said, there’s no word yet on anything to do with a PlayStation 6.
The PS5 has been hit with relentless supply issues since its launch in November 2020, with many gamers still unable to get their hands on a console. However, Sony is committed to increasing PS5 supply in time for the holidays, with promises to ramp up production earlier in the year. “We want to produce more units as soon as possible,” said Sony CFO, Hiroki Totoki.
Want to read more about the PS5? Here’s why the PS5 is getting more expensive, and what you can expect from the upcoming PlayStation Tournaments Beta.
Ryan Leston is an entertainment journalist and film critic for IGN. You can follow him on Twitter.
Apple self-driving car engineer admits he stole trade secrets while he was there
Xiaolang Zhang has pled guilty to stealing trade secrets from Apple, where he worked on a self-driving car project from 2015 to 2018 (via CNBC). When he quit his job at Apple, he told his supervisor that he was going to work for Guangzhou Xiaopeng Motors Technology, a Chinese EV startup also known as Xpeng.
During an investigation, which you can read more about here, Apple determined that he had transferred around 24GB of “highly problematic” data to his wife’s laptop via AirDrop, and had also taken circuit boards and a server from the company’s autonomous vehicle lab.
The terms of Zhang’s plea agreement aren’t publicly available, but according to a court document uploaded by CNBC (pdf), Zhang pled guilty to the single theft of trade secrets count listed in his indictment. A conference to determine his sentencing is scheduled for November 14th. According to US law, theft of trade secrets comes with a maximum prison sentence of 10 years, and CNBC reports Zhang could face up to a quarter-million dollar fine.
He’s not the only person who’s been accused of stealing automotive trade secrets from Apple, or of trying to transfer secretive materials to Xpeng. In 2019, another former Apple employee was charged with trying to smuggle manuals, schematics, diagrams, and photographs from Apple’s car project to China. His case is ongoing, according to CNBC.
That same year, Tesla claimed a former employee had uploaded source code relating to its Autopilot system to his iCloud account, and then took that information to Xpeng. At the time, the company told The Verge it “respects any third-party’s intellectual property rights and confidential information.”
Though the cases of trade secret theft date back several years, Apple hasn’t announced a self-driving car yet. Recent rumors say it could be announced in 2025, but it seems that the project has been a difficult one for Apple. Reports have painted a picture of a team that’s had to deal with high turnover for both engineers and leadership, technical problems, as well as a lack of faith in the project from some Apple higher-ups.