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We have to add the deprecation and maintenance of the car. Plus I guess they need high resolution maps? Not sure if that is a significant cost factor.

by mg 2y ago

ezfe 2y ago
Since they're using entirely electric cars that they will likely never sell so depreciation and maintenance will be favorable. There is the up-front cost of equipping the cars with equipment though, which I imagine is substantial. For the high resolution maps, that cost is fixed per market area. It could limit a rollout to new markets by driving area.
bbor 2y ago
I mean, they're Google -- I'm guessing they're pulling out their "pointcloud of the entire world" for this one. The first point is a great one, tho; rideshare companies exist by offloading as much cost as possible onto their employees, and even then barely make it work. Plus, at least some of the Waymos are super-fancy Jaguars -- tho it looks like roughly 20K Jaguars to 65K Chrysler minivans, according to Wikipedia. Still, they're all brand new vehicles; even with bulk discount, that can't be cheap.
- jeffbee 2y ago
  Waymo does not have 85k cars lol. In their latest CPUC report they only have 480 cars in California and that is their biggest market by far. If they had 85k cars and only 175k rides per week that would be the worst business in the history of businessing.
  - yellowstuff 2y ago
    It looks like they contracted to buy "up to" 20,000 Jaguars: https://www.theguardian.com/technology/2018/mar/27/waymo-self-driving-taxis-jaguar-land-rover https://www.theguardian.com/technology/2018/mar/27/waymo-sel... Pretty effective press release! Nothing in it is untrue, but it's obviously misleading even to careful readers.
    - cozzyd 2y ago
      Yes, and I have up to 20,000 jaguars in my garage. (ok, I don't even have a garage...)
marcosdumay 2y ago
On the other hand, they certainly have a much better vehicle utilization than the other ride-app companies. They cars are cooperating in covering an area, not competing for the rides there.

We have to add the deprecation and maintenance of the car. Plus I guess they need high resolution maps? Not sure if that is a significant cost factor.

by mg 2y ago

We have to add the deprecation and maintenance of the car. Plus I guess they need high resolution maps? Not sure if that is a significant cost factor.

ezfe 2y ago

Since they're using entirely electric cars that they will likely never sell so depreciation and maintenance will be favorable. There is the up-front cost of equipping the cars with equipment though, which I imagine is substantial. For the high resolution maps, that cost is fixed per market area. It could limit a rollout to new markets by driving area.

bbor 2y ago

I mean, they're Google -- I'm guessing they're pulling out their "pointcloud of the entire world" for this one. The first point is a great one, tho; rideshare companies exist by offloading as much cost as possible onto their employees, and even then barely make it work. Plus, at least some of the Waymos are super-fancy Jaguars -- tho it looks like roughly 20K Jaguars to 65K Chrysler minivans, according to Wikipedia. Still, they're all brand new vehicles; even with bulk discount, that can't be cheap.

jeffbee 2y ago
Waymo does not have 85k cars lol. In their latest CPUC report they only have 480 cars in California and that is their biggest market by far. If they had 85k cars and only 175k rides per week that would be the worst business in the history of businessing.
- yellowstuff 2y ago
  It looks like they contracted to buy "up to" 20,000 Jaguars: https://www.theguardian.com/technology/2018/mar/27/waymo-self-driving-taxis-jaguar-land-rover https://www.theguardian.com/technology/2018/mar/27/waymo-sel... Pretty effective press release! Nothing in it is untrue, but it's obviously misleading even to careful readers.
  - cozzyd 2y ago
    Yes, and I have up to 20,000 jaguars in my garage. (ok, I don't even have a garage...)

marcosdumay 2y ago

On the other hand, they certainly have a much better vehicle utilization than the other ride-app companies. They cars are cooperating in covering an area, not competing for the rides there.