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Uber was not a leader in SDCs, at least before acquiring CMUs robolab, and Uber doesnt actually own any fleet whatsoever. So I don't understand the common narr
by kzhahou 11y ago
Uber was not a leader in SDCs, at least before acquiring CMUs robolab, and Uber doesnt actually own any fleet whatsoever. So I don't understand the common narrative that uber will own transportation with an SDC fleet. What I see is a company that excels at market expansion and contractor growth, pre-announcing a major pivot years in advance.
It is equally or more likely, given the history of innovation, that a brand new company will win that space instead.
- Cshelton 11y agoTravis, the CEO of Uber has already told Elon Musk he'll purchase $500 million in self driving teslas' if available by 2020. Of course that's not anything real, it'll be interesting to see if Uber moves into owning a fleet of SDC's or jsut remaining as the middle man. If they only remain middleman, their market position could easily be at risk by the companies who own the fleets. Uber would become a 'sharecropper'. A more likely approach would be shared vehicles owned by groups of individuals/communities. A community neighborhood could own say 10 SDCs, which would have a scheduling platform and such that would effectively remove Uber from the equation altogether. I see individual car ownership dropping significantly and moving towards 'pay as you use' type service, where the car is just summoned to you. The owner, whether it's a company or group of individuals, would own the market there. By that thought, the only way I see Uber lasting long, long-term is by offering a "fleet as a service" type deal, where any city/community/group could purchase it and split payments by usage.