Feds close probe into TuSimple autonomous truck crash

 The Federal Motor Carrier Safety Administration has closed its investigation into a heavily publicized crash of a TuSimple autonomous truck.

TuSimple said it responded to several FMCSA requests following the April 6 non-injury incident on Interstate 10 in Arizona. The probe closed with no penalties. The National Highway Traffic Safety Administration declined to open a separate probe, the company said.

A driver-supervised autonomous truck took an unintended sharp left turn across a lane of westbound traffic on I-10 and struck a concrete barrier. The safety driver tried to countersteer the truck, which followed a computer-generated command that was several minutes old.

TuSimple initially said the incident was driver error. Later it acknowledged its compute system and the safety driver both bore responsibility. The company grounded its fleet of mostly Navistar International trucks and made software fixes to avoid a repeat occurrence.

Crash dinged TuSimple reputation 

TuSimple’s leadership among autonomous trucking startups suffered from the crash. It was the first to conduct a “driver out” pilot called Ghost Rider. The truck with no human in the cab covered 80 miles of nighttime driving from Tucson, Arizona, to a rail yard east of Phoenix in December 2021.

TuSimple did not immediately inform Navistar, its manufacturing partner at the time, about the crash. Following several months of boardroom drama in late 2022, Navistar and TuSimple ended a 2 ½-year partnership targeting development of a TuSimple-enabled International LT Class 8 truck that was to go on sale in 2025.

“We prioritize safety at TuSimple,” CEO Cheng Lu said in a statement. “After the incident, we halted autonomous operations, launched an internal review and collaborated with regulators. Our review resulted in additional improvements in our systems and testing operations. We are committed to continuing our mission of developing a commercial-ready, fully autonomous  driving solution for long-haul, heavy-duty trucks.”

The crash probe attracted significant media attention and brought renewed criticism that robot-driven trucks are not ready for prime time. The end of the investigation is the first good news for TuSimple in some time.

TuSimple shares hit amid boardroom drama

After going public in April 2021 with an $8.1 million market capitalization, TuSimple shares began a roller-coaster ride that eventually turned downward. TuSimple shares closed Thursday at $1.80 compared to its 52-week high of $16.61. 

The company went public at $40 a share. It traded as high as $70 before shares of tech startups suffered under investor abandonment beginning in late 2021.

TuSimple co-founder Xiaodi Hou, the company’s largest shareholder by virtue of 10-to-1 super voting rights of company stock, removed Lu a year ago. Most of the senior leadership under Lu left the company.

Hou was fired by TuSimple’s independent directors at the end of October. Ten days later, Hou and co-founder Mo Chen, who also holds super voting rights, ousted the independent directors and brought back Lu as CEO. 

Declining revenue from its freight-hauling business and the cratering stock price and valuation led Lu to restructure the company and lay off 25% of TuSimple’s work force in December, about 350 people. Lu has a guaranteed $15 million severance if he is removed from the CEO job a second time for practically any reason.

https://www.freightwaves.com/news/feds-close-probe-into-tusimple-autonomous-truck-crash

Exelixis: Phase 3 kidney cancer trial fails

 Exelixis, Inc. (Nasdaq: EXEL) today announced that the phase 3 CONTACT-03 study did not meet its primary endpoint of progression-free survival (PFS). CONTACT-03 evaluated cabozantinib (CABOMETYX®) in combination with atezolizumab versus cabozantinib alone in patients with locally advanced or metastatic clear cell or non-clear cell (papillary or unclassified only) renal cell carcinoma (RCC) who progressed during or after immune checkpoint inhibitor therapy (either combination or monotherapy).

The safety profile of the combination of cabozantinib and atezolizumab observed in the trial was consistent with the known safety profiles for each single agent, and no new safety signals were identified with the combination.

Detailed findings will be presented at an upcoming medical meeting.

https://finance.yahoo.com/news/exelixis-provides-phase-3-contact-223000057.html

Comer: Delaying Hunter Biden Subpoena To Ensure Win If It Goes To Court

 by Ryan Morgan via The Epoch Times (emphasis ours),

President Joe Biden’s son, Hunter Biden, has ignored a House Oversight Committee request for records of his business activities and potential access to classified information, but Oversight Committee Chairman James Comer (R-Ky.) is holding off on a subpoena for now.

On Feb. 8, Comer sent Hunter Biden a letter (pdf) requesting that he turn over a variety of records, including any communications with his father about his various foreign business activities and associates and any classified documents he may possess. Comer gave Hunter Biden a Feb. 22 deadline to respond to the information request.

Hunter Biden’s lawyer, Abbe Lowell, outright rejected the information request in a Feb. 9 response letter shared with the Washington Post.

Despite Lowell’s rejection letter and the missed deadline, Comer has yet to follow up his information request with a more forceful request through a legal subpoena. In comments with Punchbowl News, which were published on Wednesday, Comer said he is holding back on a subpoena for now, in order to ensure better odds that the subpoena will succeed if Hunter Biden’s legal team challenges the legal demand in court.

“It’s not just issuing a subpoena, it’s about winning,” Comer said.

“We give people plenty of time. When you do subpoenas, if you want to win in court, you have to show good faith effort that you tried to get the information. So we’re checking some boxes,” Comer continued.

“When we do subpoena, if we have to, then we’re going to win the subpoenas in court,” Comer added.

Biden’s Lawyer Says Records Request Not Legitimate

In his letter rebuffing Comer’s initial effort to recover Hunter Biden’s records, Lowell said the Oversight Committee lacked a legitimate reason for seeking the records.

“As your Letter is a sweeping attempt to collect an expansive array of documents and communications from President Biden and his family, I write to explain that the Committee on Oversight and Accountability lacks a legitimate legislative purpose and oversight basis for requesting such records from Mr. Biden, who is a private citizen,” Lowell wrote.

Case law states that a House committee must have a specific legislative purpose to pursue records and it cannot simply be an excuse to launch an investigation.

In his Feb. 8 letter, Comer said the activities of Hunter Biden and his business associates “raise significant ethics and national security concerns” and the Oversight Committee “will examine drafting legislation to strengthen federal ethics laws regarding public officials and their families.”

“We will also analyze and make recommendations regarding federal laws and regulations to ensure that financial institutions have the proper internal controls and compliance programs to alert federal agencies of potential money laundering activity,” he wrote. “The Oversight Committee is committed to exposing the waste, fraud, and abuse that has taken place at the highest levels of our government, and your documents are critical to our investigation.”

https://www.zerohedge.com/political/rep-comer-says-hes-delaying-hunter-biden-subpoena-ensure-win-if-it-goes-court

Amazon’s ‘dystopian’ tracking system counts drivers’ seat belt clicks, makes them pull over to sip coffee

 Amazon delivery drivers are chafing under the company’s Big Brother-like system that checks whether their seat belts are fastened, they’re not sipping coffee while in motion, they make a full stop at stop signs, and they don’t go more than 6 miles per hour above the speed limit.

Amber Girts, a 21-year-old Amazon van driver, posted a viral video on social media describing the “dystopian” surveillance methods used by the e-commerce giant to force its army of delivery people to comply with road safety regulations.

“We’re tracked, right?” Girts says in the now-viral TikTok video.

“That little guy is how we’re tracked,” the driver says, pointing to the four-lens camera affixed to the front windshield.

“It’s probably recording me recording it, but it can’t hear me, so that’s nice,” Girts says as she films the nearly two-minute-long clip.

Girts then goes on to describe the Driveri camera system, which is manufactured by the the AI-driven data firm Netradyne.

“It has one camera facing me, one camera facing forward, and one camera on each side [of the vehicle],” Girts says.

Twitter user Wall Street Silver dubbed the use of tracking cameras as “dystopian.”

A source close to Amazon told The Post that the safety technology “was designed with a driver’s privacy in mind” and that the cameras “can be turned off during breaks.”

“Videos are not a live feed and drivers can dispute any items that they feel are an inaccurate representation of events,” the source said.

Girts, who lives in Hickory, NC, gave a comprehensive rundown of the lengths Amazon goes to monitor its drivers.

“The one camera in front tracks how close we are to other drivers and if we stop at stop signs,” Girts explains.

“If we don’t stop at a stop sign — like, fully stop — then we get a violation for that,” Girts says.

The driver continues: “It tracks our speed so we cannot go more than 6mph over the speed limit or we get a speeding violation.”

Girts then points to the seat belt buckle affixed to the side of the driver’s side seat.

“These vans also track our buckle count so it will count how many times we buckle our seat belt,” Girts says.

“If we don’t buckle it enough or if we miss a buckle, then that is a seat belt violation,” the driver says.

As if that weren’t enough, Girts says that one of the cameras “is watching me while I drive.”

“So I cannot do a lot,” she says, including taking a sip of her iced coffee.

“If I want a sip of my coffee, I have to pull over so that I can grab it and drink it,” Girts says, pointing to the plastic cup protruding from the cup holder to the left of the steering wheel.

Girts said the tracking system counts the number of times she clicks her seat belt.

Twitter

Girts goes on to explain that she needs to pull over “because if I do it while I’m driving, that’s a driver distracted, which is also a violation.”

A source close to Amazon told The Post that the company encourages its drivers to stay hydrated while they work, and that “suggestions to the contrary are incorrect.”

Girts says she’s also prohibited from “touching the center console, which is a driver distracted and a violation.”

Girts then goes on to describe how a co-worker was flagged because he was “itching his beard” — which apparently caused the AI-powered surveillance system to think that “he was on the phone.”

“So he got a driver distracted violation for itching his face, but they disputed it,” Girts says.

The driver then says that she “cannot unbuckle my seat belt until I am in parked.”

“Everyone who works for Amazon pretty much hates those little things,” Girts says.

“We have to remember it’s just for safety…” she adds.

Amazon delivery vans are fitted with the Driveri camera system.

Amazon

Steve Kelly, a spokesperson for Amazon, told The Post: “The safety technology in delivery vans help keep drivers and the communities where we deliver safe, and claims that these cameras are intended for anything else are incorrect.”

Kelly added: “Since we started using them, we’ve seen a 35% reduction in collision rate across the network along with a reduction in distracted driving, speeding, tailgating, sign and signal violations, and drivers not wearing their seatbelts.”

Several Amazon drivers have gone public with their complaints about work conditions in recent years.

Girts says that the system flags her if she drives 6mph above the speed limit.

Twitter

Last September, a purported driver claimed he was sent home by his supervisor for using a gas station bathroom while on the clock.

Another driver took to TikTok and ranted about having to make 172 deliveries during Hurricane Ian.

https://nypost.com/2023/03/02/amazon-tracking-system-counts-delivery-drivers-seatbelt-clicks/

Semafor news site partners with think tank ‘linked to Chinese Communist Party’

 Semafor, the news site recently co-founded by former BuzzFeed and New York Times star Ben Smith, touted a new partnership with a China think tank suspected of having ties to Beijing’s ruling Communist Party.

The site trumpeted an “ambitious new initiative” with the China Center for Globalization (CCG) which will “create a new platform…for global business leaders seeking a way forward” despite economic tensions between the US and China.

Semafor said that the “independent news initiative will offer unparalleled insights into some of the most important global issues today.”

The collaboration will include two events titled “China and Global Business.” The first will be held in New York City in June followed by another in Beijing in October, according to Semafor.

A spokesperson for Semafor told The Post on Thursday that the news site will retain “full editorial independence and financial control.”

“We’re proud and excited to be building a unique and independent journalistic institution that will allow leaders across the world to engage in open dialogue both in China and abroad, to find actionable solutions to deep-seated challenges on a neutral platform,” the rep added.

The Post has sought comment from CCG.

On its website, CCG denies that it is “an organ of the Communist Party of China and the Chinese government.”

Ben Smith was editor-in-chief of BuzzFeed News and media columnist for the New York Times.

Getty Images

CCG bills itself as a “nongovernmental think tank” which “relies on corporate donations and research grants for funding” — particularly from “Chinese private sector companies and multinational corporations.”

Josh Rogin, a Washington Post columnist, noted on his Twitter feed that CCG is “affiliated with China’s United Front foreign influence operations.”

Rogin, who opines about foreign policy and national security issues for the newspaper in addition to his appearances on CNN as a political analyst, posted links to a research paper by an Australian defense think tank titled “The party speaks for you.”

The paper describes the operational methods of “United Front Work Department,” which is alleged to be a “coalition of entities working toward the party’s goals.”

One way in which “United Front Work Department” (UFWD) promotes the agenda of the Chinese government is through engaging with foreign think tanks.

The paper alleges that the CCG is headed by Wang Huiyao, who also happens to be an adviser to UFWD.

Semafor is touting a new initiative involving Chinese business leaders.

Getty Images (2); Semafor

In 2018, Wang pulled out of participating in a panel at the Wilson Center, the DC-based quasigovernmental think tank, when Sen. Marco Rubio (R-Fla.) wrote a letter demanding that Wang’s links to UFWD be disclosed.

Rogin noted on his Twitter feed that Semafor last month participated in an event that was sponsored by Alibaba, the Chinese e-commerce giant.

Semafor invited Alibaba’s vice president of international government affairs, Eric Pelletier, to offer a “sponsor perspective,” during the event.

The Chinese government in recent years has tightened regulations of domestic tech companies, including Alibaba and video game giant Tencent.

Alibaba has been accused of helping the Chinese government with surveillance of ethnic Uyghur Muslims as part of alleged widespread human rights violations. China has denied the claims.

“There is a real need for smart & reasoned discussion of the U.S.-China relationship,” Rogin tweeted.

“At the same time, partnering with United Front groups is not the answer.”

Rogin added: “Foreign influence operations can only work if we enable them.”

https://nypost.com/2023/03/02/semafor-partners-with-think-tank-linked-to-china-communist-party/