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I think this makes sense for the both. Waymo's technological advantage won't last forever. Unless they can overtake the entire automaker industry in a foreseeab

I think this makes sense for the both. Waymo's technological advantage won't last forever. Unless they can overtake the entire automaker industry in a foreseeable future (which is extremely challenging goal even with Google's money), it's probably better to put path dependencies on your potential future customers and make it much harder to change. Uber desperately want to reduce its spend on drivers, so this also aligns well with their goal.

astrange 3y ago
Having a sole source partner with self-driving cars doesn't help Uber reduce spending much; Waymo isn't charging Uber cost-plus pricing, they're charging as much as they can get away with. And Waymo has more negotiating power for its car fleet than individual Uber drivers have for their one car.