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This is why autonomous vehicles are so vital for them, no? They can undercut if they don't have to pay for drivers.

Avshalom 9y ago
maybe. if they basically 'rent' autonomous vehicles from people then so can any other competitor, if they have their own autonomous tech then they have to pay for upkeep of vehicles which may negate the difference and even then only they have an advantage for the theoretical slice of time between when they have the tech and others don't
- mulmen 9y ago
  It also assumes they can make more using it for ride sharing themselves rather than licensing it to everyone.
MaysonL 9y ago
Are their autonomous vehicles ever going to be as good as Tesla's?
- mulmen 9y ago
  Why would they not just buy autonomous Teslas? Or better yet, make their drivers buy autonomous Teslas.
  - mattnewton 9y ago
    Because there goes their margin?
  - Aron 9y ago
    Tesla is not allowing their vehicles to be used outside the Tesla Network e.g for Uber. It's already in the fine print.
mulmen 9y ago
The only way this is an advantage is if Uber themselves are the only ones with autonomous cars. With the number of other companies working on this that seems unlikely. Autonomous cars will be a commodity, I think it's unreasonable for Uber to point to that as their competitive advantage.
- ethbro 9y ago
  From an article on here yesterday, there are also network effects to consider. Who actually has continually refreshed map and traffic data from users? Google, Apple, Uber, Lyft, Tesla, possibly some other auto manufacturers. Better data allows you to provide better autonomous route planning, which causes more people to use your app, which gives you better data, etc.
nsgi 9y ago
Fully autonomous cars that don't require a driver are decades away, Uber may not have that much time. When they do arrive there's sure to be a lot of competition in that space.
microtherion 9y ago
Even if there WERE reliable autonomous cabs in the next 10 years (and I have serious doubts), switching to them would cause new problems for Uber: (1) Right now, Uber benefits from drivers underpricing the capital costs of their cars. Maintaining their own fleet would increase their costs. (2) Part of fleet maintenance is to replace vehicles every few years. This would flood the market with autonomous vehicles, each of which could potentially become part of a competitor's network (Think Lyft, but instead of driving your car, you'd have it drop you off at work in the morning, pick you up in the evening, and in between accept autonomous rides from the public).

maybe. if they basically 'rent' autonomous vehicles from people then so can any other competitor, if they have their own autonomous tech then they have to pay for upkeep of vehicles which may negate the difference and even then only they have an advantage for the theoretical slice of time between when they have the tech and others don't

mulmen 9y ago
It also assumes they can make more using it for ride sharing themselves rather than licensing it to everyone.

MaysonL 9y ago

Are their autonomous vehicles ever going to be as good as Tesla's?

mulmen 9y ago
Why would they not just buy autonomous Teslas? Or better yet, make their drivers buy autonomous Teslas.
- mattnewton 9y ago
  Because there goes their margin?
- Aron 9y ago
  Tesla is not allowing their vehicles to be used outside the Tesla Network e.g for Uber. It's already in the fine print.

mulmen 9y ago

The only way this is an advantage is if Uber themselves are the only ones with autonomous cars. With the number of other companies working on this that seems unlikely. Autonomous cars will be a commodity, I think it's unreasonable for Uber to point to that as their competitive advantage.

ethbro 9y ago
From an article on here yesterday, there are also network effects to consider. Who actually has continually refreshed map and traffic data from users? Google, Apple, Uber, Lyft, Tesla, possibly some other auto manufacturers. Better data allows you to provide better autonomous route planning, which causes more people to use your app, which gives you better data, etc.

nsgi 9y ago

Fully autonomous cars that don't require a driver are decades away, Uber may not have that much time. When they do arrive there's sure to be a lot of competition in that space.

microtherion 9y ago

Even if there WERE reliable autonomous cabs in the next 10 years (and I have serious doubts), switching to them would cause new problems for Uber: (1) Right now, Uber benefits from drivers underpricing the capital costs of their cars. Maintaining their own fleet would increase their costs. (2) Part of fleet maintenance is to replace vehicles every few years. This would flood the market with autonomous vehicles, each of which could potentially become part of a competitor's network (Think Lyft, but instead of driving your car, you'd have it drop you off at work in the morning, pick you up in the evening, and in between accept autonomous rides from the public).