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If people can get around cheaper and more easily using Uber than they could previously using taxis, that's an enabler for better productivity and quality across
by davnicwil 11y ago
If people can get around cheaper and more easily using Uber than they could previously using taxis, that's an enabler for better productivity and quality across the entire economy.
Not even to mention that Uber, in complete opposition to taxis, is massively incentivised to drive self-driving tech forwards as quickly as possible. That will be a huge, huge multiplier on the above.
Your use of 'perverted culture' in reference to demand for improvements in transport services puzzles me. Perhaps I'm misunderstanding your intent. People getting around, seeing other people, working with other people is the very basis of, well.. everything in our economy, and in our lives.
Even if only on an academic level, I really struggle to see how anyone couldn't be excited by the improvements companies like Uber are making right now, and the potentially more drastic improvements they could make in the future, in this sector.
- LeoNatan25 11y agoThanks for this. I was not aware of Uber's investments in the field, and I didn't want to compare Uber in particular. By "perverted culture", I meant the high-tech world in general, where Facebook buys Instagram and WhatsApp for billions of dollars for ... uhm ... important reasons. I am not holier than though myself, I participate in the crazy spending myself. But seeing the numbers here just made me think.
- brianclements 11y agoSo by that definition, SpaceX is truly going "full Uber".
- gozo 11y agoYou somehow think Uber is going to continue subsidize taxi travel forever? Is that what all these investors are putting money into, of course not. The technological mertis of Uber does not take that much money. They might be working on self-driving cars, but so are several other startups and car companies. Just not as some lofty future goal, but as actual incremental improvements. I think most peoples excitment over Uber is reactionary. Because they clearly aren't as excited about all the other companies that are now using similar technology without the poor ethics of Uber.
- pbreit 11y agoI don't like some of Uber's ethics but its execution overall has been exceptional. There is one impressive technical component around matching up riders along the same route. Otherwise, the Uber service is mostly just well-executed technology. But where Uber is way beyond others is operations, scale, marketing, etc. All worthy characteristics even if they don't resonate so much with a pure technical crowd. Also, on a gross basis, Uber's 20-25% take rate makes it wildly profitable.