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I can't help but wonder if it might have been wise for them to wait until they had widespread approval and adoption of self-driving cars. Completely disrupting

I can't help but wonder if it might have been wise for them to wait until they had widespread approval and adoption of self-driving cars. Completely disrupting mass transit will threaten a very large number of people's bottom lines, and many of those people have the ability to make things difficult for Google. Not least among these are auto manufacturers.

psbp 13y ago
This is an angel investment. Google is bolstering Uber, not competing directly.
- mistercow 13y ago
  Even so, I wonder if they might do better not to draw attention to the disaster that "easy car sharing (or similar concepts)" + "self-driving car" could be for car sales. Maybe I'm underestimating car companies in assuming that the haven't already anticipated this (although in that case, why aren't we seeing resistance), or maybe Google holds them in even lower esteem.
  - chromaton 13y ago
    My guess is that the car companies haven't figured this out. It takes two steps of reasoning: 1. Figuring out that self-driving cars are practical in the medium term and 2. Figuring out that widespread availability of self-driving cars means that people might not want to own their own.
    - mistercow 13y ago
      Here's hoping that they, like many others before them, flinch away from the mental pain of noticing that their business model is about to crumble until it's too late.
- joshu 13y ago
  Venture investment.
jarek 13y ago
I know this comment is a couple of days old, but neither Uber nor self-driving cars in general will come close to completely disrupting mass transit. It might disrupt suburbia, where you get a bus every 30 minutes with 10 people on it - and transit agencies will probably be delighted to no longer have to offer this non-profitable service. It will do nothing to high-capacity transit that moves tens or hundreds of thousands of people a day - not only because of economies of scale but also because there's no road space for that many cars, self-driving or not.

psbp 13y ago

This is an angel investment. Google is bolstering Uber, not competing directly.

mistercow 13y ago
Even so, I wonder if they might do better not to draw attention to the disaster that "easy car sharing (or similar concepts)" + "self-driving car" could be for car sales. Maybe I'm underestimating car companies in assuming that the haven't already anticipated this (although in that case, why aren't we seeing resistance), or maybe Google holds them in even lower esteem.
- chromaton 13y ago
  My guess is that the car companies haven't figured this out. It takes two steps of reasoning: 1. Figuring out that self-driving cars are practical in the medium term and 2. Figuring out that widespread availability of self-driving cars means that people might not want to own their own.
  - mistercow 13y ago
    Here's hoping that they, like many others before them, flinch away from the mental pain of noticing that their business model is about to crumble until it's too late.
joshu 13y ago
Venture investment.

jarek 13y ago

I know this comment is a couple of days old, but neither Uber nor self-driving cars in general will come close to completely disrupting mass transit. It might disrupt suburbia, where you get a bus every 30 minutes with 10 people on it - and transit agencies will probably be delighted to no longer have to offer this non-profitable service. It will do nothing to high-capacity transit that moves tens or hundreds of thousands of people a day - not only because of economies of scale but also because there's no road space for that many cars, self-driving or not.