4 ms·

It's a little too early for something like that to happen. The reason being that a lot of technology that goes into optimizing routes, predicting user locations

It's a little too early for something like that to happen. The reason being that a lot of technology that goes into optimizing routes, predicting user locations, developing ML models, etc., requires significant amount of expertise. Uber invested a lot of money and effort into this and that gives them an edge over other competitors. Few years down the line, many of these technologies will be readily available off the shelf as either commercial products or open source software. Even then, for drivers to unite and run a business is hard but at least they will have fewer challenges to deal with. All said, I do believe that ride sharing transportation should be treated like a utility with some regulations to ensure fairness; but this is not the time. This is the growth phase of the industry. Any regulations at this time will just slow them down and hurt society at large.

Waterluvian 9y ago
I strongly disagree that any of that technology is needed to run a ride share co-op. It all sounds nice and helps justify silicon valley's relevance in these industries. But really, you just need some basic business infrastructure, a request ride app, and drivers with a growing wisdom about the needs of their region.
- harigov 9y ago
  To run a ride share co-op? Sure, you can run it without any of that technology. To run an _efficient_ ride sharing service? That's where all of this technology matters. Think of competition between companies that are efficient vs inefficient. The one that is efficient will eat the other for breakfast.
  - Waterluvian 9y ago
    I'm picturing a single employee per shift whose job is to keep a simple GIS updated with a generalized map of demand density. Add markers for relevant info like major events that will affect demand. This individual could also be one of the CSR's jobs. I'm picturing this service being unique per region, so the co-opers are all locals who grok their region. Give the drivers these data and they will naturally find balance. They're intelligent people who are motivated by efficiency. You just need an organizational core to supply the right data and infrastructure. I feel frustrated by this idea that we need to replace the best source of wisdom we have: our drivers, with expensive technologies. It makes a simple problem complex. Feels like silicon valley is putting my juice in a bag to squeeze.
    - harigov 9y ago
      Well, your entire business will depend upon that single employee doing his job while remaining sharp to take care of all edge cases. Given that you need one like that in every city, your chances of finding such person to provide consistent service across the board are slim. Software is just automating decision making process of such an ideal individual without any human downsides. It is infinitely scalable and consistent across the board.
- tluyben2 9y ago
  Most ‘competing’ apps (like UGo) are awful pieces of tech and basically a horror to use; and that is only a small part. That is not thinking about a solid backend, payment etc. Sure it is not that hard it seems but to make something that works well enough so people rely on it is something else.
confounded 9y ago
> This is the growth phase of the industry. Any regulations at this time will just slow them down and hurt society at large. Any regulations? Can you explain what you mean by reducing fairness to help society at large?
- harigov 9y ago
  I didn't say reducing fairness. I said regulations to improve fairness are probably detrimental at this point when they are still trying to figure out how to run it efficiently and what other related problems can be solved. If you try to slow them down, society will be the one to lose on some services that would benefit everyone at large. It's not that regulations are bad but rather that it's hard to regulate something that is still being built. I am thinking of regulations like better employee protection, more benefits, constraint on margins, forcing use of environmentally friendly cars, etc.,

Waterluvian 9y ago

I strongly disagree that any of that technology is needed to run a ride share co-op. It all sounds nice and helps justify silicon valley's relevance in these industries. But really, you just need some basic business infrastructure, a request ride app, and drivers with a growing wisdom about the needs of their region.

harigov 9y ago
To run a ride share co-op? Sure, you can run it without any of that technology. To run an _efficient_ ride sharing service? That's where all of this technology matters. Think of competition between companies that are efficient vs inefficient. The one that is efficient will eat the other for breakfast.
- Waterluvian 9y ago
  I'm picturing a single employee per shift whose job is to keep a simple GIS updated with a generalized map of demand density. Add markers for relevant info like major events that will affect demand. This individual could also be one of the CSR's jobs. I'm picturing this service being unique per region, so the co-opers are all locals who grok their region. Give the drivers these data and they will naturally find balance. They're intelligent people who are motivated by efficiency. You just need an organizational core to supply the right data and infrastructure. I feel frustrated by this idea that we need to replace the best source of wisdom we have: our drivers, with expensive technologies. It makes a simple problem complex. Feels like silicon valley is putting my juice in a bag to squeeze.
  - harigov 9y ago
    Well, your entire business will depend upon that single employee doing his job while remaining sharp to take care of all edge cases. Given that you need one like that in every city, your chances of finding such person to provide consistent service across the board are slim. Software is just automating decision making process of such an ideal individual without any human downsides. It is infinitely scalable and consistent across the board.
tluyben2 9y ago
Most ‘competing’ apps (like UGo) are awful pieces of tech and basically a horror to use; and that is only a small part. That is not thinking about a solid backend, payment etc. Sure it is not that hard it seems but to make something that works well enough so people rely on it is something else.

confounded 9y ago

> This is the growth phase of the industry. Any regulations at this time will just slow them down and hurt society at large. Any regulations? Can you explain what you mean by reducing fairness to help society at large?

harigov 9y ago
I didn't say reducing fairness. I said regulations to improve fairness are probably detrimental at this point when they are still trying to figure out how to run it efficiently and what other related problems can be solved. If you try to slow them down, society will be the one to lose on some services that would benefit everyone at large. It's not that regulations are bad but rather that it's hard to regulate something that is still being built. I am thinking of regulations like better employee protection, more benefits, constraint on margins, forcing use of environmentally friendly cars, etc.,