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In pushing for these sales, SoftBank appears to be valuing Uber and other cab hailing business as taxi businesses and aiming to improve profitability by reduci

by sfifs 9y ago

In pushing for these sales, SoftBank appears to be valuing Uber and other cab hailing business as taxi businesses and aiming to improve profitability by reducing competition rather than as a precursor to gain marketshare for some kind of driverless taxi fleets. The insiders don't seem to subscribe to the breathless enthusiasm of online commentators who have long considered Uber's current model as merely a stepping store to driverless fleets.

ghaff 9y ago
Because that's all they are. Uber and its competitors provided a valuable service in demonstrating what a modern taxi service ought to look like (at least from a customer perspective). But now that they've raised that bar, they don't provide a lot of added value other than as a worldwide integrated brand (in the case of Uber specifically). Whenever door-to-door self-driving eventually arrives, it won't be in a timeframe that's remotely interesting to current investors in these services.
- notahacker 9y ago
  And that's particularly true of South East Asia, where human driver costs are negligible and differences in road networks and driver behaviour create all sorts of interesting new challenges for self driving software even if it handles California near perfectly.
  - ghaff 9y ago
    Those are good points. If I have trouble imagining self-driving vehicles navigating Boston at rush hour, it truly boggles the mind to imagine them making it around Bangkok, Jakarta, or KL. I'm an experienced driver and I wouldn't want to. And, as you say, while a lot of people probably overestimate the driver cost as a percentage of a taxi ride in developed Western countries, it truly is almost negligible in Southeast Asia. It's very common for people to have full-time drivers.
    - tomkit 9y ago
      In a lot of SEA and EMEA markets road signs, signals, traffic lights, etc. are often non-existent, wrong or broken. Intersections may have 10-20 signs all oriented in a non-standard position. Throw in motorists and bicyclists that are constantly swerving between lanes and inches from cars. Seeing current videos of how self-driving cars react, it would constantly be jerking in different directions. There are also lots of local habits that self-driving cars would need to be trained to do, eg in Nepal when in a two lane and you spot an oncoming car, you turn on your right blinker to signal you see each other and can pass safely.
      - philliphaydon 9y ago
        What are these 'lot' of SEA markets?
        richardknop 9y ago
        I think probably countries like Indonesia, Singapore, Malaysia, Philippines, Vietnam, Thailand, Cambodia etc

by sfifs 9y ago

ghaff 9y ago

Because that's all they are. Uber and its competitors provided a valuable service in demonstrating what a modern taxi service ought to look like (at least from a customer perspective). But now that they've raised that bar, they don't provide a lot of added value other than as a worldwide integrated brand (in the case of Uber specifically). Whenever door-to-door self-driving eventually arrives, it won't be in a timeframe that's remotely interesting to current investors in these services.

notahacker 9y ago
And that's particularly true of South East Asia, where human driver costs are negligible and differences in road networks and driver behaviour create all sorts of interesting new challenges for self driving software even if it handles California near perfectly.
- ghaff 9y ago
  Those are good points. If I have trouble imagining self-driving vehicles navigating Boston at rush hour, it truly boggles the mind to imagine them making it around Bangkok, Jakarta, or KL. I'm an experienced driver and I wouldn't want to. And, as you say, while a lot of people probably overestimate the driver cost as a percentage of a taxi ride in developed Western countries, it truly is almost negligible in Southeast Asia. It's very common for people to have full-time drivers.
  - tomkit 9y ago
    In a lot of SEA and EMEA markets road signs, signals, traffic lights, etc. are often non-existent, wrong or broken. Intersections may have 10-20 signs all oriented in a non-standard position. Throw in motorists and bicyclists that are constantly swerving between lanes and inches from cars. Seeing current videos of how self-driving cars react, it would constantly be jerking in different directions. There are also lots of local habits that self-driving cars would need to be trained to do, eg in Nepal when in a two lane and you spot an oncoming car, you turn on your right blinker to signal you see each other and can pass safely.
    - philliphaydon 9y ago
      What are these 'lot' of SEA markets?
      - richardknop 9y ago
        I think probably countries like Indonesia, Singapore, Malaysia, Philippines, Vietnam, Thailand, Cambodia etc