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If autonomous cars will be on the uber platform, the autonomous rides will be very cheap. There is even more incentive for people to not own a car and instead u

by kovek 10y ago

If autonomous cars will be on the uber platform, the autonomous rides will be very cheap. There is even more incentive for people to not own a car and instead use Uber. This means that there will be less customers demanding to own an autonomous car. The autonomous car manufacturers will have to sell to Uber.

melvinmt 10y ago
> There is even more incentive for people to not own a car and instead use Uber Sure, but if every company (think Tesla/Google/Apple/Amazon etc) eventually can build/buy autonomous cars and offer the same service, what competitive advantage would Uber still have? Their current network effect of matching drivers with customers is where most of their value is imho. If that disappears, then I really don't know why we still need Uber. If I speak into my wearable iEarplug in 2020 and say "Hey Siri, get me a car", would I really care about it being an Uber car?
diego 10y ago
That is offset by the convenience of owning an autonomous car which can drive you anywhere on the spot, with all your stuff already in it. If I owned an autonomous car that acted as my personal chauffeur, I'd only consider services like Uber or Lyft when flying out of town.
- matznerd 10y ago
  Your car would be able to drive home by itself after dropping you off... Or, if you removed your person belongings, it could log into a ride service pool and generate revenue while you are out of town.
AJ007 10y ago
It will be interesting to see how this ends up playing out. During stage 1, uber was able to win by scaling up driver and rider supply with enough balance to keep everyone happy enough to continue use. Stage 2, the transition to the self driving vehicle, can be won by whoever is able to supply self driving vehicles at scale. It is plausible that Google and Apple could create a ride marketplace for vehicle manufacturers. You press a button on your phone and a car shows up. This would provide a survival path for car manufacturers. Another plausible scenario is cities converting to self driving "platforms" exclusively run by single companies such as Uber or Google. In the shorter term this could be a winning play because it makes the self driving automation part a little easier. Longer term this doesn't scale so well. However, if a larger company is able to get big cities to sell transportation rights there could be long term lock in. There will be big opportunities here in the next 5 years as municipalities continue to become more strapped for cash. Google, Apple, Uber, Tesla, and BMW are the companies I'm watching closest right now. The big question may be what was more important -- have the rider/driver network first, actually manufacturing self driving electric vehicles (electric is important because emissions and air quality will win cities), or having the platform users use to hail vehicles (Apple and Google.) Uber could have a big IPO and buy a car manufacturer outright but I don't know if that makes much sense. Buying up assets of a bankrupt or bleeding car manufacturer seems more opportune.
- LAMike 10y ago
  If Tesla pulls off the Gigafactory, they are in good position to take over stage 2
wordtoyourmom 10y ago
Since when has pricing been cost-driven though?

by kovek 10y ago

melvinmt 10y ago

> There is even more incentive for people to not own a car and instead use Uber Sure, but if every company (think Tesla/Google/Apple/Amazon etc) eventually can build/buy autonomous cars and offer the same service, what competitive advantage would Uber still have? Their current network effect of matching drivers with customers is where most of their value is imho. If that disappears, then I really don't know why we still need Uber. If I speak into my wearable iEarplug in 2020 and say "Hey Siri, get me a car", would I really care about it being an Uber car?

diego 10y ago

That is offset by the convenience of owning an autonomous car which can drive you anywhere on the spot, with all your stuff already in it. If I owned an autonomous car that acted as my personal chauffeur, I'd only consider services like Uber or Lyft when flying out of town.

matznerd 10y ago
Your car would be able to drive home by itself after dropping you off... Or, if you removed your person belongings, it could log into a ride service pool and generate revenue while you are out of town.

AJ007 10y ago

It will be interesting to see how this ends up playing out. During stage 1, uber was able to win by scaling up driver and rider supply with enough balance to keep everyone happy enough to continue use. Stage 2, the transition to the self driving vehicle, can be won by whoever is able to supply self driving vehicles at scale. It is plausible that Google and Apple could create a ride marketplace for vehicle manufacturers. You press a button on your phone and a car shows up. This would provide a survival path for car manufacturers. Another plausible scenario is cities converting to self driving "platforms" exclusively run by single companies such as Uber or Google. In the shorter term this could be a winning play because it makes the self driving automation part a little easier. Longer term this doesn't scale so well. However, if a larger company is able to get big cities to sell transportation rights there could be long term lock in. There will be big opportunities here in the next 5 years as municipalities continue to become more strapped for cash. Google, Apple, Uber, Tesla, and BMW are the companies I'm watching closest right now. The big question may be what was more important -- have the rider/driver network first, actually manufacturing self driving electric vehicles (electric is important because emissions and air quality will win cities), or having the platform users use to hail vehicles (Apple and Google.) Uber could have a big IPO and buy a car manufacturer outright but I don't know if that makes much sense. Buying up assets of a bankrupt or bleeding car manufacturer seems more opportune.

LAMike 10y ago
If Tesla pulls off the Gigafactory, they are in good position to take over stage 2

wordtoyourmom 10y ago

Since when has pricing been cost-driven though?