I bet Uber can make autonomous taxis happen. They operate in urban areas. Uber can create the very detailed maps of these areas that autonomous vehicles need.

I bet Uber can make autonomous taxis happen. They operate in urban areas. Uber can create the very detailed maps of these areas that autonomous vehicles need. Right now, we have two conditions where autonomous systems work well: on the highway, where you can use products like Delphi's sensor package to do adaptive cruise control and lane assist, and in more urban environments with very detailed maps (see the Google autonomous cars). I actually think there's a good chance Uber can create very detailed maps of places like Manhattan and San Francisco, and make autonomous vehicles that can use these maps to drive around. Uber is under such a microscope when it comes to drivers that it makes a lot of sense for them to sink the R&D into this problem. All the cost going into paying people, paying to find people, and paying to clean up when people make a mistake, goes away.