Uber has determined that its self-driving software detected the pedestrian who was killed in a recent Arizona crash, but did not react in time. The fatal accident has ushered in an important debate about Uber’s safety protocols as well as a broader debate about the safety of testing semi-autonomous technology on public roads. Uber has hired former National Transportation Safety Board Chairman Christopher Hart to advise the company on “overall safety culture.” Meanwhile, the editorial board of the New York Times published an op-ed about the devastating effects Uber and other ride-hailing apps have had on the livelihood of taxi drivers and on traffic. [Johana Bhuiyan / Recode]
Recode Daily: Uber hires an exec for ‘safety culture’ after a fatal self-driving car crash
Plus, the big music labels sell big chunks of now-public Spotify stock; how Instagram Stories took over your smartphone; and it’s okay to fall asleep during this concert.
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New York State Attorney General Eric Schneiderman resigned three hours after the New Yorker published multiple allegations of “nonconsensual physical violence” from women who had been his romantic partners. Schneiderman had been a public foe of Harvey Weinstein. The New Yorker’s piece was co-written by Jane Mayer and Ronan Farrow, who just won a Pulitzer prize for reporting he did about Weinstein last year. [The New Yorker]
The big music labels are selling big chunks of their Spotify stakes now that the streaming music service has gone public. Sony, which had the biggest stake in Spotify, recently sold about half its shares for about $750 million; now Warner Music Group has sold 75 percent of its shares for about $400 million. Warner CEO Steve Cooper said the sale doesn’t reflect any pessimism about the growth potential of Spotify, which is currently valued at $27 billion — Warner, along with Sony and Universal Music Group, captures the bulk of the revenue Spotify generates, so it has a vested interest in its success. [Peter Kafka / Recode]
Snap CFO Drew Vollero is leaving the company, and will be replaced by Amazon exec Tim Stone, that company’s VP of finance and former VP of physical stores. Stone has a background in digital content and cloud services; Vollero helped lead the Snapchat parent through a successful IPO early last year, but its stock has done poorly since — it took a dive of more than 17 percent last week — and the company has missed its revenue and user growth targets on multiple occasions. [Kurt Wagner / Recode]
Here’s a conversation with Microsoft CEO Satya Nadella, as the company continues Day Two of its annual Build developer conference in Seattle — Nadella touches on ethics in tech, GDPR and the future of Windows. And here’s a roundup of the biggest news from the conference, including a demo of Microsoft’s meeting room of the future. [Dieter Bohn / The Verge]
The glass rectangle now frames experience: This is how and why Instagram’s Stories photo/video format took over your smartphone. “Like them or hate them, Stories might be the first true smartphone media format. And that might mean that they will become the dominant format of the future.” [Ian Bogost / The Atlantic]
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