Not saying it's not stupid, but FWIW I noticed ACRush (competitive programming legend) is behind that startup - at least it should mean it's not a full-blown scam.
I'm reasonably confident in Pony.ai's potential to develop an autonomous OS in China, they've got some real street cred, and in the time they've been at it appears they're coming along fine, possibly they've already surpassed Baidu.(Baidu did a huge restructuring because they weren't getting anywhere).
Pony has an American cousin: Aurora. Aurora was founded at almost the same time by ex-autpilot director Sterling Anderson and former Google SDC project lead Chris Urmson. Just like with Pony they decided they'd be better off starting their own company rather than try to work around the C-suite bullshit they had to put up with at their previous employers.
Now the thing is, top tier talent is short shrift, and the best would rather be working with a Chris Urmson or an ACRush solving hard problems than for a bunch of suits or egomaniacs who just don't get it.
So both Pony and Aurora have a special advantage when it comes to attracting talent that money can't buy. And talent is everything. Many of the best people were passionate about this long before the hype got out of control and the notion of getting stinking rich was ever a serious consideration.
Fricken|8 years ago
Pony has an American cousin: Aurora. Aurora was founded at almost the same time by ex-autpilot director Sterling Anderson and former Google SDC project lead Chris Urmson. Just like with Pony they decided they'd be better off starting their own company rather than try to work around the C-suite bullshit they had to put up with at their previous employers.
Now the thing is, top tier talent is short shrift, and the best would rather be working with a Chris Urmson or an ACRush solving hard problems than for a bunch of suits or egomaniacs who just don't get it.
So both Pony and Aurora have a special advantage when it comes to attracting talent that money can't buy. And talent is everything. Many of the best people were passionate about this long before the hype got out of control and the notion of getting stinking rich was ever a serious consideration.