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The other problem with the business model is with self-driving cars, unless you have exclusive self-drive technology, the barrier to entry to other carpooling o

The other problem with the business model is with self-driving cars, unless you have exclusive self-drive technology, the barrier to entry to other carpooling options is quite low. In fact you could easily see car manufacturers offering such services - something like Zipcar but more convenient as the cars can self redistribute. I find it hard to believe Uber will ever break even ( not on the day to day costs - recouping all that upfront investment ). Having said that, the likes of Uber have changed the world - so the money wasn't entirely wasted.

bluGill 2y ago
I don't think car manufactures will offer that service - it gets too deep into weird monopoly laws and the like that they want to avoid. Plus it is a distraction from their business. They will instead sell to others who offer that service. Generally shared cars only make sense when someone drives very little anyway. Cars are expensive and so shared cars are either too expensive to be used often, or very hard to get at. Renting a car for a weekend is about half the cost of a monthly payment on the same car, but if you buy the car you have it the rest of the month (and if you buy a car you have used options or keeping the car after it is paid for to bring the total cost down - you will have to pay maintenance costs but those tend to be much less).
- DrScientist 2y ago
  > Plus it is a distraction from their business. They will instead sell to others who offer that service. Possibly. However you could also see the Uber type market as reducing the need for people to buy cars - threatening their core business, as well as reducing the number of their potential customers and again shifting the power away from them.
  - bluGill 2y ago
    I doubt it. Except a few on the fringe most get rid of the car anyway a personal car isn't much more expensive. sure if you drive new cars it might work out but the average car is 12 years old and nobody who's image depends on their car is going to acept that quality which means the cars you hire will be expensive to attract them.

bluGill 2y ago

I don't think car manufactures will offer that service - it gets too deep into weird monopoly laws and the like that they want to avoid. Plus it is a distraction from their business. They will instead sell to others who offer that service. Generally shared cars only make sense when someone drives very little anyway. Cars are expensive and so shared cars are either too expensive to be used often, or very hard to get at. Renting a car for a weekend is about half the cost of a monthly payment on the same car, but if you buy the car you have it the rest of the month (and if you buy a car you have used options or keeping the car after it is paid for to bring the total cost down - you will have to pay maintenance costs but those tend to be much less).

DrScientist 2y ago
> Plus it is a distraction from their business. They will instead sell to others who offer that service. Possibly. However you could also see the Uber type market as reducing the need for people to buy cars - threatening their core business, as well as reducing the number of their potential customers and again shifting the power away from them.
- bluGill 2y ago
  I doubt it. Except a few on the fringe most get rid of the car anyway a personal car isn't much more expensive. sure if you drive new cars it might work out but the average car is 12 years old and nobody who's image depends on their car is going to acept that quality which means the cars you hire will be expensive to attract them.