4 ms·

Wierd how the article states that Über doesn't solve "real" problems.

by Tycho 11y ago

amelius 11y ago
Well they don't solve "technical" problems, so I'm wondering what they are doing in Silicon Valley. Or perhaps we should acknowledge that Silicon Valley these days is mostly about becoming the biggest brand in service-mediation, and running on external funding while making net losses year after year, and in the process pushing everybody else out of the market. It is not so much about technical innovation anymore. Look at how a lot of open source software is written in Europe and monetized in the US.
- randomsearch 11y ago
  > Well they don't solve "technical" problems I'm fairly sure the staff of Uber would strongly disagree with you there. The logistics they manage must be vast. Dealing with the real-world is messy and hard.
  - mondoshawan 11y ago
    How is it any different than, say, Flywheel? The biggest difference I see is the skirting of taxi regulation.
- deleted 11y ago
  [deleted]
- heynk 11y ago
  Genuinely curious, what are your examples for Europe based OSS that gets monetized in the U.S.?
  - plonh 11y ago
    Linux. MySQL.
  - deleted 11y ago
    [deleted]
flohofwoe 11y ago
Uber is the archetypical example of a Silicon Valley company projecting it's narrow US-centric-view onto the rest of the world. From what I gather, taxi businesses in the US seem to be in the hand of Mafia-like criminal organizations. That's not the case in most Western-European cities with good and cheap public transport and well-regulated taxi systems. If I can get from anywhere to anywhere at any time for little money already for the last 30 years, what's the point of a service like Uber, especially Uber with their shady business practices and aggressive stance towards established labour laws.
- xenolies 11y ago
  I'm pretty sure that creating a fleet of self driving cars operating on dynamic dispatch would have worldwide ramifications. But I see your point re public transport.
  - eterm 11y ago
    Except then dynamic dispatch won't be fast enough, so they or a competitor will have a fleet of self driving cars driving around 24/7 most of the time empty so that there is always a nearby car ready. The kind of market "efficiency" seen in the housing market where huge amount of property is left empty.
  - flohofwoe 11y ago
    That must be a different company. The Uber I know is that evil company lead by incredibly arrogant *ssholes trying to aggressively price-dump taxi drivers (that don't make a lot of money to begin with) out of their jobs by employing-but-not-really-employing a cheap workforce without paying their part on the drivers insurances. Basically an illegal taxi business ;)
    - icebraining 11y ago
      Yes, that's the story that people like Evgeny Freidman paint, when they started seeing their rent-seeking investment - buying medallions and charging drivers hundreds of dollars to rent them so that they could work - begin to drop. This story shows the situation for taxi drivers, way before Uber: http://www.nytimes.com/1995/04/09/nyregion/driving-a-taxi-difficult-in-best-of-times-gets-tougher.html http://www.nytimes.com/1995/04/09/nyregion/driving-a-taxi-di... Some quotes: The average rate a cabbie paid to take a taxi out for a 12-hour shift climbed 11 percent, to about $85, between 1990 and 1993 (...) In 1993, 32 to 45 percent of the income of a fleet or lease manager was profit, or $16,000 to $21,300 per car, up from $5,500 to $9,800 in 1986, according to the taxi commission. Lease drivers rent the medallions, and usually the taxis, for a day or a week from their owners or a middleman. Depending on the owner and the night of the week, a lease driver pays $72 to $100 to take a car out for a 12-hour shift, or about $450 to $650 for a weekly lease. The driver must also pay for gas, at $15 to $20 a night. Drivers keep whatever fares and tips they collect, but they often start a day's work $100 or more behind.

Wierd how the article states that Über doesn't solve "real" problems.

by Tycho 11y ago

Wierd how the article states that Über doesn't solve "real" problems.

Well they don't solve "technical" problems, so I'm wondering what they are doing in Silicon Valley. Or perhaps we should acknowledge that Silicon Valley these days is mostly about becoming the biggest brand in service-mediation, and running on external funding while making net losses year after year, and in the process pushing everybody else out of the market. It is not so much about technical innovation anymore. Look at how a lot of open source software is written in Europe and monetized in the US.

randomsearch 11y ago
> Well they don't solve "technical" problems I'm fairly sure the staff of Uber would strongly disagree with you there. The logistics they manage must be vast. Dealing with the real-world is messy and hard.
- mondoshawan 11y ago
  How is it any different than, say, Flywheel? The biggest difference I see is the skirting of taxi regulation.
deleted 11y ago
[deleted]
heynk 11y ago
Genuinely curious, what are your examples for Europe based OSS that gets monetized in the U.S.?
- plonh 11y ago
  Linux. MySQL.
- deleted 11y ago
  [deleted]

flohofwoe 11y ago

Uber is the archetypical example of a Silicon Valley company projecting it's narrow US-centric-view onto the rest of the world. From what I gather, taxi businesses in the US seem to be in the hand of Mafia-like criminal organizations. That's not the case in most Western-European cities with good and cheap public transport and well-regulated taxi systems. If I can get from anywhere to anywhere at any time for little money already for the last 30 years, what's the point of a service like Uber, especially Uber with their shady business practices and aggressive stance towards established labour laws.

xenolies 11y ago
I'm pretty sure that creating a fleet of self driving cars operating on dynamic dispatch would have worldwide ramifications. But I see your point re public transport.
- eterm 11y ago
  Except then dynamic dispatch won't be fast enough, so they or a competitor will have a fleet of self driving cars driving around 24/7 most of the time empty so that there is always a nearby car ready. The kind of market "efficiency" seen in the housing market where huge amount of property is left empty.
- flohofwoe 11y ago
  That must be a different company. The Uber I know is that evil company lead by incredibly arrogant *ssholes trying to aggressively price-dump taxi drivers (that don't make a lot of money to begin with) out of their jobs by employing-but-not-really-employing a cheap workforce without paying their part on the drivers insurances. Basically an illegal taxi business ;)
  - icebraining 11y ago
    Yes, that's the story that people like Evgeny Freidman paint, when they started seeing their rent-seeking investment - buying medallions and charging drivers hundreds of dollars to rent them so that they could work - begin to drop. This story shows the situation for taxi drivers, way before Uber: http://www.nytimes.com/1995/04/09/nyregion/driving-a-taxi-difficult-in-best-of-times-gets-tougher.html http://www.nytimes.com/1995/04/09/nyregion/driving-a-taxi-di... Some quotes: The average rate a cabbie paid to take a taxi out for a 12-hour shift climbed 11 percent, to about $85, between 1990 and 1993 (...) In 1993, 32 to 45 percent of the income of a fleet or lease manager was profit, or $16,000 to $21,300 per car, up from $5,500 to $9,800 in 1986, according to the taxi commission. Lease drivers rent the medallions, and usually the taxis, for a day or a week from their owners or a middleman. Depending on the owner and the night of the week, a lease driver pays $72 to $100 to take a car out for a 12-hour shift, or about $450 to $650 for a weekly lease. The driver must also pay for gas, at $15 to $20 a night. Drivers keep whatever fares and tips they collect, but they often start a day's work $100 or more behind.