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This is a great topic that once matured could disrupt many other services such as AirBnb, Doordash, and even Amazon. Some level of centralization would likely b

This is a great topic that once matured could disrupt many other services such as AirBnb, Doordash, and even Amazon. Some level of centralization would likely be needed depending on the use case, but the goal could be to decentralize as much as feasible to distribute benefit more to nodes/providers. In the ride share situation, the need for identification and reputation scoring is probably overrated. We flagged taxis and paid cash for a hundred years with little problems. I have hitchhiked all over the world for years and never had any real problem. Some safety mechanism should be in place for more vulnerable people. The app would know the license plate and make of car, and a button on the app clicked a few times could dispatch police using GPS. This would make it safer than walking down a street. The driver would have similar emergency button that sent all the relevant information via 911 channel. It may not yet be time to launch this, but the existing ride share duopoly will be facing more problems ahead in financing and regulation that will eventually make this alternative very appealing.

htag 4y ago
> In the ride share situation, the need for identification and reputation scoring is probably overrated. I don't think that at all. Reputation systems strongly discourage bad actors from joining the system. Look at email spam for the importance of reputation in distributed systems, and then consider that people are risking auto accidents, being the victim of a violent crime, or being scammed.
- kornhole 4y ago
  I agree that the service provider/driver needs to be licensed, registered, insured, and accountable. The customer rating system seems optional and not MVP.
powersnail 4y ago
> We flagged taxis and paid cash for a hundred years with little problems In my home town, rogue taxis are a big problem. Not with robbery usually; but with rigged meters, not using a meter, deliberate detours, picking up extra customers along the way, harassment against women, cheating pocket money out of child, etc. Those were surprisingly rampant especially at airports and train stations because tourists typically don’t know what price/time to expect. The amount of deception is frankly speaking, staggering. Centralized apps, with a relatively transparent quote beforehand, a map and route in the customer’s hand, largely solved this problem. It also seemed to have improved the average tidiness, given that it’s part of the rating. It used to be that the drivers would happily smoke in your face even if there are children or pregnant parent. This is just one city of course. I don’t presume that every city was infested with horrible taxi drivers like where I come from. But to me, “with little problem” is not how I’d characterize the taxi business of the past.
- kornhole 4y ago
  I have experienced a few rogue taxi drivers in some countries too, and they can take advantage of more vulnerable people. Most countries have laws and rules for being a registered taxi driver. The drivers are obviously not anonymous as they have license plates. They can be reported to authorities and taxi companies more easily with an app. As a rider, I do not see why it is so important to identify myself and tell all these platforms where I am going which is why I still prefer taxis.
  - powersnail 4y ago
    I mean, as a rider, I, too, do not see why it is so important to identify myself to the platforms. That's not the part that I like about the apps. The taxi companies in my hometown don't give a flying toss about complaints. The customer essentially has no power of making an informed choice when it comes to picking a driver. A driver might have been complained about 800 times in the last year, but you can't know that, and therefore it can't be used against the driver. A frequently complained driver brings the same amount of money to the company as a well-behaved one, so as long as they don't cause any legal trouble, the companies don't care and don't act.
- grumpymouse 4y ago
  I think for a large part of the population getting in a car with a stranger is fundamentally not a trustless activity, and no combination of tokens, hashes, customer reviews or market forces is going to make it so. Even more if the driver is anonymous apart from an address in a blockchain.
- mantas 4y ago
  Centralized app itself doesn't solve the problem. In my city after a short happy period we're back to crappy taxis like you describe. Mostly because the biggest app (Bolt) doesn't care. And the city doesn't care as well. Possibly because of personal connections with the local branch of said company.
nine_k 4y ago
> and even Amazon But how? Amazon's strength in the retail is their own automated warehouses, their own fleet of delivery vehicles, and various agreements with shippers and larger-scale producers of goods. It all benefits from scale, and not from decentralization into a network of independent nodes.
- kornhole 4y ago
  Amazon is the most complex one, but people are already working on different aspects of it. I think it would need to be broken down to a decentralized protocol for the marketplace and another for fulfillment and logistics at a minimum.

htag 4y ago

> In the ride share situation, the need for identification and reputation scoring is probably overrated. I don't think that at all. Reputation systems strongly discourage bad actors from joining the system. Look at email spam for the importance of reputation in distributed systems, and then consider that people are risking auto accidents, being the victim of a violent crime, or being scammed.

kornhole 4y ago
I agree that the service provider/driver needs to be licensed, registered, insured, and accountable. The customer rating system seems optional and not MVP.

powersnail 4y ago

> We flagged taxis and paid cash for a hundred years with little problems In my home town, rogue taxis are a big problem. Not with robbery usually; but with rigged meters, not using a meter, deliberate detours, picking up extra customers along the way, harassment against women, cheating pocket money out of child, etc. Those were surprisingly rampant especially at airports and train stations because tourists typically don’t know what price/time to expect. The amount of deception is frankly speaking, staggering. Centralized apps, with a relatively transparent quote beforehand, a map and route in the customer’s hand, largely solved this problem. It also seemed to have improved the average tidiness, given that it’s part of the rating. It used to be that the drivers would happily smoke in your face even if there are children or pregnant parent. This is just one city of course. I don’t presume that every city was infested with horrible taxi drivers like where I come from. But to me, “with little problem” is not how I’d characterize the taxi business of the past.

kornhole 4y ago
I have experienced a few rogue taxi drivers in some countries too, and they can take advantage of more vulnerable people. Most countries have laws and rules for being a registered taxi driver. The drivers are obviously not anonymous as they have license plates. They can be reported to authorities and taxi companies more easily with an app. As a rider, I do not see why it is so important to identify myself and tell all these platforms where I am going which is why I still prefer taxis.
- powersnail 4y ago
  I mean, as a rider, I, too, do not see why it is so important to identify myself to the platforms. That's not the part that I like about the apps. The taxi companies in my hometown don't give a flying toss about complaints. The customer essentially has no power of making an informed choice when it comes to picking a driver. A driver might have been complained about 800 times in the last year, but you can't know that, and therefore it can't be used against the driver. A frequently complained driver brings the same amount of money to the company as a well-behaved one, so as long as they don't cause any legal trouble, the companies don't care and don't act.
grumpymouse 4y ago
I think for a large part of the population getting in a car with a stranger is fundamentally not a trustless activity, and no combination of tokens, hashes, customer reviews or market forces is going to make it so. Even more if the driver is anonymous apart from an address in a blockchain.
mantas 4y ago
Centralized app itself doesn't solve the problem. In my city after a short happy period we're back to crappy taxis like you describe. Mostly because the biggest app (Bolt) doesn't care. And the city doesn't care as well. Possibly because of personal connections with the local branch of said company.

nine_k 4y ago

> and even Amazon But how? Amazon's strength in the retail is their own automated warehouses, their own fleet of delivery vehicles, and various agreements with shippers and larger-scale producers of goods. It all benefits from scale, and not from decentralization into a network of independent nodes.

kornhole 4y ago
Amazon is the most complex one, but people are already working on different aspects of it. I think it would need to be broken down to a decentralized protocol for the marketplace and another for fulfillment and logistics at a minimum.