Uber Development Vehicle Operator interview questions

Quick phone call with third party staffer. Given homework assignment. I was to create a presentation describing a drivers thought process turning left at a 4-way stop. I apparently passed and was called in for an interview at their Pittsburgh office. They even offered a free Uber ride to the interview (I live out of the range of Uber drivers, so did not partake). Interview itself was two parts. One part was a very conversational interaction with a kid that seemed more nervous to be there than I was. He was nice and on point though. Second part was with a more confident individual with whom I was asked to perform a driving exercise. Upon return we waited for around 15 minutes for an HR rep. Not sure why, the HR rep simply walked me out and said I'd hear back by the next day. 2 Hours later I was given an offer. I declined the offer. They were unwilling to negotiate pay. The listing said $20-$24 per hour. I have an engineering degree, experience in gathering and presenting data, and supervisory experience. If they unwilling to pay me more than 20, I am not sure what it would take to get more. I feel like it was a marketing technique to encourage applicants (like myself) who wouldn't have applied at $20/hr. I was interested because I thought it could be a foothold to get into their other openings that I am more interested in. They wouldn't even talk about that possibility during the interview.

I believe the UBER ATC is disguising research as fake job interviews. I recently applied to be a development vehicle operator for one of the self driving vehicles. They were looking for driving experience as well as technical experience which I feel I have alot of. Now the interview process consisted of a "Homework" question. The question was, what would a safe and focused driver do to navigate a left turn at a 4-way stop. I spent 3 hours making an extensive on everything a person would need to do. I submitted it and passed making it to a phone interview and a 3 hour onsite interview. I arrived at the onsite interview and was told that I would be taking a driving test. This was completely unexpected but it made sense at the moment. I got in a vehicle with two other people and we drove to a hotel downtown and to Heinz field. The person in the front seat asked various questions like "where would you want to be picked by a self driving car in this area" After we got back to the office, I was placed in a conference room with 2 more people. I was told to take a marker to the white board and again explain the process of everything a vehicle needs to do to navigate a 4 way stop. The last part was a technical interview about using a computer which I aced. The whole time I was excited and acted like a kid in a candy store. The office was cool, what they were working on was awesome and I really wanted to be a part of it and i'm sure it showed. I was told I would hear back the next day. I sent my thank you email expressing to them how awesome the interview experience was and how it would be a great opportunity. I never got a response. After a week I still did not receive a response. I decided to call adecco who was doing the recruiting for it. I asked my contact if I would hear from her or uber directly. She tells me she did not even know I had an interview with them. She then tells me that they were looking for 40 people and they had passed on everyone because "Noone seemed like they wanted to be there" This was completely wrong. I showed nothing but excitement during my interview. She then tells me that Uber had changed the job from direct hire to temp to hire and that they now want 500 people. She said she did not know how this was even possible and it doesn't seem like they want to hire anyone. I believe that Uber is gathering data on how people drive for their autonomous vehicles and disguising it as fake interviews to get out of paying people for their time. I also feel that spending 6 to 8 hours in a interview and not hearing anything back directly from the company is completely rude and unprofessional.