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I did some back of the napkin calculations and a two car suburban family would save approximately $7000 using Uber to commute compared to owning a 15-20K second

I did some back of the napkin calculations and a two car suburban family would save approximately $7000 using Uber to commute compared to owning a 15-20K second card over a 10 year period. That's the market, if uber wants to scale they have to do that driverless.

querulous 9y ago
$7k a year, or $7k total? no one in america is giving up their car for $700/year
- radiorental 9y ago
  Who is giving up a car? Who will want to own, maintain, deal with parking, insure, etc etc a car for 10 years when you can have this year's model appear anywhere, anytime by just taking out your phone? The 7k savings assume you bought a cheap car and kept it, I also did not factor tax & insurance. Savings increase dramatically if you were to finance a 35k+ 2nd car that many Americans in the burbs seem to do.
Marazan 9y ago
Uber loses money at that price. Uber doesn't "scale", there is no economies of scale that kick in anywhere in their business model.
- placeybordeaux 9y ago
  Even if they aren't paying any drivers?
  - NeutronBoy 9y ago
    The drivers in Uber handle more than just the driving - they essentially handle all the other logistics of offering a taxi service. They keep the car clean, they handle any regular maintenance and servicing, they store the car when it's not in use, they manage registration and insurance, they manage any insurance claims, they fix any damage, they mop up the vomit, etc. Once Uber goes self driving, they take on responsibility for all of these logistical activities, and they currently have no capability and capacity to do that. These activities only scale so far.
    - radiorental 9y ago
      > Once Uber goes self driving, they take on responsibility for all of these logistical activities Why would they need to do that. They're a software company, they have explicitly demonstrated no motivation to take on this work. It's really not hard to envision them partnering with an existing bricks and mortar to provide those services - e.g. car rental companies provision through their hubs, or uhaul steps into the game and their franchise owners become uber hubs. I really feel this is the obvious endgame, but who is to say.
- radiorental 9y ago
  I don't understand what you 'mean at that price' As for scale? There very much is efficiencies to be gained in becoming a true mass transit system.
  - Marazan 9y ago
    But that means Uber takes on all the things that they currently offload on the drivers (car ownership, maintenance, etc). By 'at that price's I mean Uber have currently lost 15 billion dollars subsidising taxi fares. They cannot sustain that.
    - radiorental 9y ago
      I agree they can't sustain that. Without insight into their roadmap we can only speculate. To the point of Uber maintaining driverless cars. What's to stop them going to a franchise model. Uhaul-like hubs where the cars go to get charged, cleaned etc?

querulous 9y ago

$7k a year, or $7k total? no one in america is giving up their car for $700/year

radiorental 9y ago
Who is giving up a car? Who will want to own, maintain, deal with parking, insure, etc etc a car for 10 years when you can have this year's model appear anywhere, anytime by just taking out your phone? The 7k savings assume you bought a cheap car and kept it, I also did not factor tax & insurance. Savings increase dramatically if you were to finance a 35k+ 2nd car that many Americans in the burbs seem to do.

Marazan 9y ago

Uber loses money at that price. Uber doesn't "scale", there is no economies of scale that kick in anywhere in their business model.

placeybordeaux 9y ago
Even if they aren't paying any drivers?
- NeutronBoy 9y ago
  The drivers in Uber handle more than just the driving - they essentially handle all the other logistics of offering a taxi service. They keep the car clean, they handle any regular maintenance and servicing, they store the car when it's not in use, they manage registration and insurance, they manage any insurance claims, they fix any damage, they mop up the vomit, etc. Once Uber goes self driving, they take on responsibility for all of these logistical activities, and they currently have no capability and capacity to do that. These activities only scale so far.
  - radiorental 9y ago
    > Once Uber goes self driving, they take on responsibility for all of these logistical activities Why would they need to do that. They're a software company, they have explicitly demonstrated no motivation to take on this work. It's really not hard to envision them partnering with an existing bricks and mortar to provide those services - e.g. car rental companies provision through their hubs, or uhaul steps into the game and their franchise owners become uber hubs. I really feel this is the obvious endgame, but who is to say.
radiorental 9y ago
I don't understand what you 'mean at that price' As for scale? There very much is efficiencies to be gained in becoming a true mass transit system.
- Marazan 9y ago
  But that means Uber takes on all the things that they currently offload on the drivers (car ownership, maintenance, etc). By 'at that price's I mean Uber have currently lost 15 billion dollars subsidising taxi fares. They cannot sustain that.
  - radiorental 9y ago
    I agree they can't sustain that. Without insight into their roadmap we can only speculate. To the point of Uber maintaining driverless cars. What's to stop them going to a franchise model. Uhaul-like hubs where the cars go to get charged, cleaned etc?