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Google launches Uber rival RideWith
- frederickf 11y agoThis sounds more like Lyft's "Line" service which connects driver and passengers going the same way on regular trips. I'm not familiar with Uber's offerings though so maybe they have a similar service?
- trevyn 11y agoLyft Line and UberPool match 2 passengers going roughly in the same direction, and put them in the same ride-for-hire vehicle. The driver's preferences have no bearing. :)
- abluecloud 11y ago> Drivers will only be able to make two trips per day, and the software will ensure they only travel from their home neighborhoods to their workplaces. > There also won’t be a ton of money changing hands as a passenger will pay the driver only a nominal fare for the trip I'd hardly call it a Uber rival
- chockablock 11y agoYep--it seems more like a smartphone-enabled extension of the 'casual carpool' concept (http://sfcasualcarpool.com/ http://sfcasualcarpool.com/) [Edit: except you can set up rides the night before; see Haaretz link in my other comment.]
- eli 11y agoOr the similarly non-app-enabled Slug Lines in DC: http://www.slug-lines.com/ http://www.slug-lines.com/
- andybak 11y agoThe title is truly misleading. That's either bad journalism or someone is shorting Uber stock...
- jedmeyers 11y agoUber is not a public company so it does not have any stock on the open market.
- ebbflowgo 11y agoHowever, correlation trading is a viable option.. for example: http://blogs.wsj.com/moneybeat/2014/06/19/heres-one-way-to-bet-on-ubers-success/ http://blogs.wsj.com/moneybeat/2014/06/19/heres-one-way-to-b...
- electric_sheep 11y agoIndeed. > ...allows users to share rides to work and back I'm not sure how many people take Uber to and from work every day. I'd imagine it doesn't contribute to the bulk of ridership, though.
- JohnTHaller 11y agoGiven UBER's past and current market plays, commuter ride-sharing is a natural extension of UBER's array of segments.
- rendambathu 11y agoExactly. Sounds like a Social Carpool application than competition to Taxi Hailing service.
- minthd 11y agoUBER plans to attack the "drive to work" segment of the transportation market, and it's potentially a huge opportunity for UBER.This Google service, if successful, might fill that role very well. And the fact that it's cheaper is basically "disruption from below" - a proven strategy in many businesses. While this exact transport service model generally failed , it did succeed in France(blabla car), and Google has unique marketing advantages that might make it succeed elsewhere. Also, the main competitive barrier for UBER is that many consumers have the habit of ordering transportation through it's app. If Google gets that , the rest is relatively easy.
- freehunter 11y agoJust FYI, it's Uber, not UBER. It's not an acronym.
- fennecfoxen 11y agohttps://www.uber.com/ https://www.uber.com/ take a look at that-there all-caps branding. It's pretty prominent in the app, too. (At least for UBER as an overall brand - uberX and the like are gladly lowercased.) Though they do use lowercase in some minor text. Still easy enough to make the mistake, though.
- appletree 11y agoThat's just the logo. Looking at their legal documents is just Uber Technologies Inc. http://newsroom.uber.com/wp-content/uploads/2015/04/FormRules.pdf http://newsroom.uber.com/wp-content/uploads/2015/04/FormRule...
- freehunter 11y agoEverything on their home page is in all-caps, not just the word Uber. If you look at press releases, their social media accounts, their emails, anything other than their all-caps homepage, it's shown as Uber.
- shostack 11y agoYep, a big factor to consider here is that while Uber has a head start, Google has a massive chest derived from other products and political clout to deal with the regulatory piece. They can absolutely price Uber and others out of the market on this if they felt like it.
- onion2k 11y agoI wouldn't have called Uber a "taxi rival" when they were an app for hiring a town car either. Things change. This is Google's first toe-in-the-water for apps to request a ride, but it obviously won't be their last. Considering how much they've invested in autonomous vehicles only a crazy person would believe they're going to leave the entire market for self-driving taxis wide open for Uber etc. Google will have a taxi request service within a couple of years.
- minthd 11y agoBut why doesn't Apple doesn't try to create an UBER ?
- roosterjm2k2 11y agoBecause Apple is smarter than that... they will do what they do best... Let someone work out the kinks, then step in and make it better... Why waste all the money on all of this regulatory squabbling... let Uber and Lyft do that, give all the free rides, lose money to make this thing legal... then when it's legal, swoop in and take over...
- minthd 11y agoIt's not so simple. There are network effects at play(if we're talking about shared trips) - and those are hard to fight against , even for large companies like Google and Apple. This is why i think, Google is entering now - because UBER and Lyft started offering shared rides(which BTW grow rapidly).
- eli 11y agoI don't follow the question. Why doesn't Walmart?
- minthd 11y agoApple(and Google) has unique advantages as the owners of the major platforms, and and major mapping apps, with access to all travel data. Those are major building blocks of such a travel service.
- sebastianavina 11y ago> pilot project
- TorKlingberg 11y agoRight, this is actually a ride share/carpool service, not taxi like Uber.
- dataker 11y agoWith Google's amount of data, 2 trips will 'force' drivers to restrict input to commuting habits and have more insights on it. Google still holds 5% of Uber. For commuting, I'd call it Uber's abandonment and Lyft's death.
- chinathrow 11y ago> Google still holds 5% of Uber. Is that public knowledge?
- icebraining 11y agoI don't know if the exact percentage is publicly known, but that Google Ventures invested $258M into Uber certainly is: http://techcrunch.com/2013/08/22/google-ventures-puts-258m-into-uber-its-largest-deal-ever/ http://techcrunch.com/2013/08/22/google-ventures-puts-258m-i...
- chinathrow 11y agoIs it even still public that Google still holds that investment?
- stephengillie 11y ago> I'd hardly call it an Uber rival Isn't this what Lyft does? I'm guessing Uber put some money in a reporter's pocket to submarine them in this article instead.
- adevine 11y agoLyft certainly lets you take more that 2 drives per day, and certainly not just too and from work. Also, at least in some locales Lyft has gotten rid of the "donation" fiction as many local laws explicitly state that any type of payment counts as a ride-for-hire. This is basically just a carpooling app, and is nowhere near a rival to Uber or Lyft.
- deleted 11y ago[deleted]
- j_camarena 11y agoyet.
- SilasX 11y agoYou are correct: that's pretty much exactly how Lyft started: "oh, this is just ridesharing [1]", it's "just trips to places the driver would go anyway", and for which "you can choose to give them a nominal amount" to cover gas, totally optional (though they'll rate you poorly). They've since dropped the pretense but a lot of the trappings remain. Edit: Don't mean to sound like I'm "hatin' on" Lyft, just amused at the dance they have to go through to fend off busybodies. [1] a term they still use against protest from journalists, and TBH, reasonable people
- vinnyc 11y agoI suspect many of these things will change as features like only two trips per day doesn't seem very sustainable. Right now it's not even close to being a rival, but what it evolves into very well may.
- peterjlee 11y agoConsidering 90% of my Uber usage is for commuting, this could take significant market away from Uber.
- ChuckMcM 11y agoI keep seeing a bunch of Google Express vans sitting around idle because they don't have any goods to deliver, this sort of thing could easily capture a bit of revenue from those idle vehicles. It was the first thing I thought of when I saw that Uber was doing deliveries.
- philsnow 11y agoHow do you weigh 8 hours of idle time vs 8 hours of driving time in the long term ownership cost of one of those vans, though?
- ChuckMcM 11y agoWell according to the drivers they aren't getting paid if they aren't driving. So it perhaps motivates them. EDIT: Thinking about this a bit more what is the value of having nominal control over a fleet of vehicles of various capabilities sitting around a metropolitan area? Someone wants to go from point A to point B? Dispatch a nearby passenger capable vehicle to pick them up and drop them off. Package needs to go from here to there? Send a vehicle and driver over to get this package and take it over. Imagine the economics of consolidating courier service, taxi cabs, emergency transport, into a single 'app' will all 'contract' labor.
- bl4ckm0r3 11y agoThe legal implications of this approach (compared to uber's) are way easier to deal with. They are not trying to fix taxis, they are trying to fix car-pooling.
- deleted 11y ago[deleted]
- mark_l_watson 11y agoThat seems like a very good idea, not as a huge business, but to save energy, wear and tear of cars, etc.
- abalos 11y agoI think the barrier to this sort of behavior being more common in the masses is that it's difficult to make these sort of connections. If Google is basically able to say hey - your neighbor down the block drives to within a 5 minute walk of your office, then this could be a really useful tool for this sort of networking.
- pluma 11y agoThis seems like a clever way to nudge users in the general direction of self-driving cars as a service for local public transport.
- gregoire 11y agoThe title is misleading. RideWith isn't a direct Uber rival, as it's a feature of the Waze app matching people doing similar trips on a regular basis. It is therefore closer to ride sharing/carpooling than to private transportation.
- RodericDay 11y agoSo it's ride-sharing instead of a cab company?
- eli 11y agoA lot closer to carpooling, since the driver is trying to get to roughly the same destination as well.
- chockablock 11y agoThis article in Haaretz has a lot more information, including pricing and details about how rides are set up in advance, typically the night before. "Google's Waze to launch worldwide carpooling pilot in Israel" http://www.haaretz.com/business/1.664577 http://www.haaretz.com/business/1.664577
- wodenokoto 11y agoDo you really think that Google snoops into paying customers map data? Why in the world would uber just give it away? No, no, why would they pay to give it away? Even as a 5% investor, do they have such intimate data access?
- justincormack 11y agoIt is interesting, but they did just buy Microsoft's map division http://www.theverge.com/2015/6/29/8863687/uber-acquires-mapping-data-tech-and-talent-from-microsoft-bing http://www.theverge.com/2015/6/29/8863687/uber-acquires-mapp...
- emergentcypher 11y agoEven if this isn't quite an uber rival, this is ultimately Uber's problem. All they are is an app with some marketing, and anyone with a bit of money can easily come up with a competing app.
- dylanjermiah 11y ago>All they are is an app with some marketing, and anyone with a bit of money can easily come up with a competing app. I think I'll let your first statement stand, but in regards to the second. Uber has raised $5.9bn dollars, is doing ~2m rides per day, is in 300+ cities -- sure you can create a competing app, but the chances of meaningfulness are small if non existent.
- ma2rten 11y agoin 300+ countries As far as I know, there are only 196 countries in the world.
- dylanjermiah 11y agoI apologize, I meant cities. Thank you for letting me know.
- kevin_thibedeau 11y agoThe difference is that carpooling is legal. What Uber and Lyft are doing is not in most markets.
- dylanjermiah 11y agoWhat relevance does this have to the parent, or my, comment?
- kevin_thibedeau 11y agoThe relevance is that a $5.9b valuation is dubious when it's based on an illegal enterprise. That "value" can disappear in an instant when municipalities start cracking down.
- dfar1 11y agoI had no idea Waze was acquired by google. I wish they would just combine the best of waze with the best of google maps into one app that just works.
- zenonu 11y agoMost "Wazers" actually do not want the Waze brand or its app to be diluted.
- freehunter 11y agoMost people don't want anything they like to be diluted or changed. People on HN don't want people from Reddit. People from Reddit don't want people from Facebook. People from Facebook don't want their parents. People in a gated community don't want poor people moving into their neighborhood. People in the city don't want rich folks moving in and gentrifying their block. People, in general, are xenophobic and like their culture to stay small and untainted. Eternal September happens everywhere. It doesn't mean that Google has to keep two separate mapping applications running. Waze didn't stop to think about their community when they sold the application to Google.
- paulhauggis 11y ago"People, in general, are xenophobic and like their culture to stay small and untainted." The problem is that when anybody and everyone comes into the community and you don't have some sort of filter, it turns to shit.
- oldmanjay 11y agowell it certainly changes. presupposing that change to be "shit" is of course bigotry.
- adevine 11y agoIMO they have. Google maps (at least on Android) now shows me traffic incidents reported on Waze, and it will route me around these incidents in real time as I'm driving somewhere, e.g. "A faster route has become available. Say 'OK' to take this route."
- electric_sheep 11y agoDoesn't sound like a play against Uber -- seems more like a companion concept to self-driving cars, which would naturally be good candidates for commuter ride-sharing.
- Gossilla 11y agoInteresting how they limit the drivers. I assume this is from the driver-as-employee lawsuits Uber is facing and Google wants to be safe.
- salimmadjd 11y agoWhen google announced Uber integration in their maps, I called it a trojan horse [1] Basically making maps the interface for ride sharing and then adding their own service on top. [1] https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=7705706 https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=7705706
- eli 11y agoI'd assumed that integration was more about learning Uber's fleet size at different times, how long people are willing to wait for a car, what locations they request from, etc.
- minthd 11y agoI'm sure UBER injects noise into their map requests, and since many drivers use an iPhone , It's hard for Google to filter that noise.
- shostack 11y agoGenius and ruthless business move on their part if that was indeed the case.
- amelius 11y agoSpeaking of unfair competition.
- dylanjermiah 11y agoHow so?
- amelius 11y agoGoogle: Company that is using its power established in one market to gain control of another market. Uber: Entering a market with disregard of rules established for that market.
- dylanjermiah 11y agoInteresting, how would you define 'unfair competition' and 'fair competition'? In a general sense.
- minthd 11y agoamelius's answer is what the law sees as "unfair competition", altough often it's hard to sue i think(IANAL).
- frozenport 11y agoUber: fuck the law
- dylanjermiah 11y agoWhen the laws hurt consumers and protected the taxi cartel, I, and 2 million plus people per day welcome the destruction of such backwards laws.
- hackuser 11y agoIs Uber any better? They are their own cartel, much more powerful than taxi drivers. https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=9771551 https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=9771551
- tdaltonc 11y agoThe premise behind uber's valuation is that they could own the marketplace for transportation. But what if the market is not monopolizable? If users (drivers and riders) can costlessly participate in multiple transportation markets, then it's impossible to form a monopoly. Users will just frictionlessly move to the cheapest market. I operate in multiple of these markets (check all of the apps before committing to a ride) and I know that many drivers do too (lyft on this phone, uber on that phone, etc). So shouldn't this monopoly unravel to the point that all of the transportation markets aren't able to capture any value from the transaction?
- Zigurd 11y agoUber's valuation is also based on the perception that Uber can outgun the competition technologically and in global expansion. Uber might face more or less frictionless competition from regional rivals, like Lyft, but will have some durable advantages. Google is a different kind of competitor.
- tdaltonc 11y agoThe premise behind uber's valuation is that they could own the marketplace for transportation. But what if the market is not monopolizable? If users (drivers and riders) can costlessly participate in multiple transportation markets, then it's impossible to form a monopoly. Users will just frictionlessly move to the cheapest market. I operate in multiple of these markets (check all of the apps before committing to a ride) and I know that many drivers do too (lyft on this phone, uber on that phone, etc). So shouldn't this monopoly unravel to the point that all of the transportation markets aren't able to capture any value from the transaction?
- dpflan 11y agoForgive if I am misunderstanding, but Google Ventures invested in Uber, not Google itself. Wouldn't this statement from the article be half incorrect: "This puts Google squarely in competition with Uber, which is both an investment and customer of its Google Maps product." 1. https://www.gv.com/about https://www.gv.com/about 2. https://www.crunchbase.com/organization/uber/funding-rounds https://www.crunchbase.com/organization/uber/funding-rounds
- tdaltonc 11y agoYou are, of course, correct, but is that a distinction that matters?
- dpflan 11y agoI thought to some degree it does, given the stated 'independence' of GV but the thick spreading of association with Google. Perhaps that is why GV and GC exist, to support technological development, and help spur innovation at the mothership? Google can then acquire the incubated companies or become firmly connected with them.
- stoshe 11y agoEven if Google never moves to acquire Uber, though, they may simply look at it as Uber creating the social acceptance and market demand for this type of service. That would then make Google entering into the market with a competing service later an easier and a more predictably profitable venture.
- chrisfosterelli 11y agoI think it definitely does. Google Ventures has expressed in the past that their investments are not tied to any business plans of Google and function entirely separately.
- outside1234 11y agoIf you believe that I have a bridge you can invest in! They clearly invested in Uber because Google wanted to buy them and clearly Uber has said no. So plan B.
- wheaties 11y agoIs it me or is Google doing the Microsoft "Me too!" with all these things they're trying and then closing down a few months later?
- crazychrome 11y agoUnlike Microsoft, who had the will and executive ability to expand to new territories and destroy competitors, Google has a remarkable record of half-baked works and giving up. it's a joke.
- blfr 11y agoGoogle has, very successfully I would argue, expanded into mobile. They bought a mobile OS and turned it into the global market leader. This is the biggest change in consumer technology since the web and they did not miss it.
- stoshe 11y agoThere is a very serious benefit to recognizing a losing hand and folding before you're in too deep. You see a weakness in Google's execution, and I'd agree in some places, but there is some wisdom in closing up failed experiments rather than doubling down as Microsoft has done with several of their investments in the past.
- crazychrome 11y agoI have zero problem with the fail-fast, fail-earlier strategy and attitude. ultimately it's business. there is no point to continue if it's obviously not going to work. there is a catch though: do fail because of innovation (crazy, big ideas). I'd argue all these experiments, except gmail/map/wave, have 0 substance. most of them are crappy implemented, poor planed cat projects.
- aceperry 11y ago"had the will and executive ability to expand to new territories and destroy competitors" That didn't happen in mobile. In fact iOS and Android made Microsoft's mobile efforts look silly.
- frozenport 11y agoDumb question: how is this Google's core business?
- unprepare 11y agoIf sharing a ride with someone frees up my attention to use my smartphone instead of watching the road, google can make more money advertising to me during that time.
- frozenport 11y agoYeah, and if Google covered by medical bills I might live a few more years :-)
- unprepare 11y agohttp://www.calicolabs.com/ http://www.calicolabs.com/ I think they agree.
- shaunrussell 11y agoWho takes an Uber to work?
- joeskyyy 11y agoI lot of my friends in the bay area use Uber actually to get to and/or from work. I find it rather insane with all the other transit options and you know, walking? But to each their own.
- saosebastiao 11y agoIt seems absurd to me too, but I know plenty of people that do it at Amazon. Typically in positions that are paying $300k+, or people that are 75+% travel. I guess it's about the convenience of not having to park more than anything else.
- chockablock 11y agoUberPool in SF is currently $7 each way within city limits and my wife takes it to/from work frequently. Compared to us buying a second car, this is incredibly cost-effective, and would be worth it at 3x the price. (Monthly cost of ownership of a used car in SF would be ~$1000/mo including parking spaces at work and home). The only other cost-competitive option is MUNI, which is $2.25 each way (or less if you commit to a monthly pass, and/or pay using before-tax income). She does use MUNI occasionally, but there are no direct routes serving her commute, and it is often unreliable at commute times. Ridesharing for commuters is not always some absurd luxury--it can be an economically sensible luxury :)
- rhino369 11y agoI do. It's a pretty big extravegence, but the train costs 2-3bucks and takes 25-40 min and uber costs 9 for 15 minutes if I wait past the worse of rush hour. I can expense the way home if I work late enough. It's cheaper than driving since I'd have to pay 320 a month for a parking space at work. I probably should just take the train more.
- gohrt 11y agoIf you carpool in an uber, it is cheaper than transit, and much faster too. In the 5-10 mile range.
- linux_devil 11y agoCorrect me , I don't find it as a Uber rival . I think they are trying to promote car pool which is much needed here in India , only problem I see is security of passsengers
- MarcScott 11y agoDoes this mean we can look forward to fleets of self-driving cars roaming the streets and waiting for someone to hail them with Google's app? Or maybe your personal self-driving car will inform you that there are people travelling your route that you can share fuel costs with.
- stoshe 11y agoBoth, or at least I hope so. The benefits of driver-less vehicles in terms of accidents and fatalities aside, consider for a moment just how under utilized the current transportation capacity is in this country. On average, even at peak drive times, what percentage of vehicles are actually being used? Just look down your street or at any parking lot you pass on your way into the office. In order to get the convenience of not having to call a taxi which could then require a long wait every time we need to go somewhere, we take out loans for tens of thousands of dollars to own a vehicle that is all ours. We then pay to maintain the multi-ton machine, build custom paths and storage buildings on our homes just to store them, and everywhere we go large swatches of land are set aside just to give us temporary storage for our vehicles since we can't reasonably visit any location without this machine in tow. In a reality where we must own a vehicle in order to move around quickly and easily, all of these things make perfect sense and are just a part of our lives so much so that we don't even think about them most of the time. This one "little" change can completely transform it all.
- taigeair 11y agoMy prediction number 5 :) 5. New functionality - e.g. If you're going somewhere while using Google Maps for navigation and turn on "Carpool" mode, people can see your path and message you for a pick up. They pay you for partial journey via the app. http://www.quora.com/How-will-Google-monetize-Google-Maps http://www.quora.com/How-will-Google-monetize-Google-Maps
- seanp2k2 11y agoI still want the ability to add a destination en route to another destination, e.g. "Ooh, I need to find [cheap] gas on the way to my next errand". It'd also be nice to be able to plan out e.g. "I need to go 4 places, figure out when they all close and what the optimal route is between them all". These are currently very manual and pretty tedious.
- sib 11y agoWaze enables this (add a destination en route to another destination) pretty seamlessly for a single additional point. They don't really do multipoint trip optimization afaik.
- foobarian 11y agoI wish one of these traffic apps had "race mode." The traffic data is mostly worthless because it's not real-time, and even when it does give a good route it's hard to confirm it after arrival. Instead it would be cool to compare my route to an alternate traversed by another app user who left the origin around the same time.
- deleted 11y ago[deleted]
- aarongray 11y agoSelf-driving taxi's would be awesome.
- pasbesoin 11y agoFix what you have, Google. Every time you launch into something else, like this, I become a bit more convinced that commentators are right and you are slowly turning into Microsoft. I get the sense that, internally, things are still significantly different than they are or ever were at Microsoft. But I become increasingly concerned about some encroaching "inevitable". De-fuck Hangouts and your rats nest of "instant" products/services. Beat Verizon over the head until they actually update the Moto X that, at the time of purchase, you sold me. Stop launching the "next great thing" only to kill it 18 months later, over and over. And as some have said, um, search? Give at least optional specific control back to the power users. And someone the other day raised the pertinent question of why it's not well-integrated into Hangouts. I suppose RideWith is supposed to eventually overlap with your autonomous cars, or something. But I don't give a crap about the new, until the old and erstwhile reliable -- and so critical to so many -- starts working better, again. Thanks. P.S. Ok, that last paragraph is partially rhetoric. But, damnit, if I'm going to invest in your products -- in both dollars and time and effort -- I want some consistency, and an upward trend in features and usability. (See also Tim O'Reilly's recent comments about the -- cough -- "improved" interface in Contacts. (Pop-ups and clipped text -- really?))
- CodeSheikh 11y agoUber should have filed for IPO.
- deleted 11y ago[deleted]
- EGreg 11y agoIs it just me or does that page have an annoying ad network which AUTOMATICALLY redirects your mobile browser to the app store? I've seen a proliferation of these now.
- ismail 11y agoNote: We have built a marketplace to connect drivers and passengers, so we understand some of the challenges in scaling a business like this. Like all marketplaces, you are faced with the chicken and egg problem. The market place is supply constrained. There is demand for rides but not enough matching supply. People with cars much prefer to travel alone due the inconvenience of picking up others. So, in order to get the drivers you need to give them a VERY convenient option. Someone that is along their route, that would not add more than 5-10 mins of extra commute time, this is also dependent on how long the total commute is. You also need to reach these drivers, without them searching for a solution. Which is insanely expensive since the cheap acquisition strategies do not work. The best way to solve this IMHO is seeding the market with drivers (supply side). Once you have the scale to guarantee a ride in a specific area you open up ride-sharing. * Uber is doing this by incentivizing drivers who want to make a profit. * Google is uniquely positioned to do this as well, since they have the treasure trove of Wayze data
- jellicle 11y agoGoogle knows where every Android user and most of everyone else lives and works. Frankly it would be trivial to ask Android users a question: "Are you interested in carpooling? [Y/N]" and then prompt them when the guy three doors down also answers yes.
- ikeboy 11y agoWe both know they'd be (rightly) yelled at by all of us if they did that. Waze, fine. By using the app, you agree they might monetize it, or whatever. But pushing ads to stock android is a huge no-no.
- mjmahone17 11y agoEh, but it would work inside Google Maps/Waze. Some people I know use Google Maps or Waze every day, despite knowing what the best way to get to work is. This means Google likely already has the "driver" supply, and just needs to find a good way to provide those drivers with appropriate passengers. So when someone first opens Waze/GM, you could put up a notification: "Dakota Doe <picture, rating> is 2 minutes away and is also trying to go to X. Would you like to carpool them?" People who say yes get pushed it more and more often, people who say no get a screen the next time they open the app expounding on the benefits of carpooling.
- LordKano 11y agoWho's going to trust this? Google is so quick to terminate technologies that I'm hesitant to try anything new that they bring to market.
- shostack 11y agoMay I ask why you need to trust this from that standpoint? With other Google services I agree with the concern. In this case, if they discontinued, you revert to your old way of commuting. I don't imagine anyone doing anything stupid like selling their car over this. It's like Shopping Express for me. Was AMAZING while it was free and I used it every week. Now I don't because the fee is in place. Since Amazon pantry is not a good fit for my needs either, I just do things like in ancient times and pick things up at the grocery store while I'm out running errands and spend a few more minutes.
- LordKano 11y agoI didn't flesh out my thought process but I'm thinking that there has to be some real reason to go with this over Uber or Lyft. Obviously, no one should restructure their life around the availability of this kind of service. I'm just saying that this feels like bandwagoning to me. I can't be the only one thinking that this isn't going to last long. Uber and Lyft will be in that business until they close up shop or are regulated out of a market. If you're going to try a non-traditional taxi-type service, why go with Google over one of the existing players?
- shostack 11y agoHard to say at this point given that this hasn't launched yet. I'll need to see what it looks like when it does its pilot in Israel. Google's long-term play has a decent chance of involving self-driving cars and monetizing via advertising and data with some fee from the ride. Nothing says "open up your wallets" to large brick and mortar advertisers like "we literally drove the customer to your doorstep." Getting users hooked and getting this tested via commute data is a great approach before branching out to something else. It also lets users browse the web, and Google likely has clear visibility into the search behavior of users searching while in their rides to determine the incremental ad revenue this enabled. Google doesn't need to offer this for free to provide a great experience at a lower price than any current competitors like Uber or Lyft. They have substantial revenue from other areas to fuel this and so can price their competition out of the market. Other companies do the same thing to squeeze into a dominant position in a market they want to enter.
- balls187 11y agoThis is a first step into google's next big play: Self Driving Cars/Taxis/Carpools that are subsidized by Google's ad business.
- mangeletti 11y agoSometimes when I read about Google dipping their hands into totally new things (another example is Google +) I think, "those greedy ...", etc., but then sometimes I read it and think, "perhaps Google is simply trying to prevent monopolies in tech fields where competition is sparse.". If the latter possibility is sometimes the true motive, even if it is done out of self interest, the result tends to be good for all of us (except for the monopolists themselves), because Google doesn't tend to be able to maintain a monopoly in any techs other than search and advertising. One example of the benefits of this kind of competition is the advent of larger iPhones. If not for Google's Android and subsequent proliferation of large-sized phones that evolved out of customer demand, Apple might have ignored (or not been nearly as aware of) the demand for a larger iPhone.
- hackuser 11y agoOne big advantage of Google's solution over Uber's is the relative climate change impact of your transportation choice. In reverse order of benefit, based on my amatuer analysis: * For a baseline, let's use one party (generally a person or a couple) with a personal car. Traveling someplace creates P marginal greenhouse gasses (GHG), plus there is the fixed cost of manufacturing the car (but I have no idea how much that is). * Uber and taxis net GHG emissions should be worst and greater than P: Your trip uses P but added to that is the GHG generated when the taxi/Uber car has no passenger and is 'cruising'. Also, I expect taxis/Uber cars are larger on average than personal cars, and thus less fuel efficient, because they need to fit several adults comfortably in the back. If you give up a personal car for Uber/taxis, then you get the manufacturing benefit. * Car share services (e.g., ZipCar) should net less than P emissions, if you give up a personal car when you join. The car is parked when nobody is driving it, so the marginal cost of one trip is P. But it also eliminates the emissions created from manufacturing the car, whatever that is. EDIT: As hayksaakian points out below, this is the same as buying a used car. * Google's RideWidth's net GHG emissions should be much less than P: For every added passenger, one less car is on the road emitting P. * Public transit probably is second best. The marginal GHG emissions of the bus/train carrying your fat a-- on its normal route probably don't amount to much. On the other hand, it probably depends on the average passenger load of the vehicle -- certainly a train/bus with only you on it costs much more per passenger than P, but those fixed costs are spread over many more passengers than Uber/taxis. * Best of all, of course, are biking or walking. Though has anyone calculated the GHG emissions of the human energy cycle, from growing the cattle feed to transport to refrigeration to cooking to human methane emissions? Also not calculated are the effect your use of one service or another has on demand, driving up the number of Uber/taxi/busses, etc. on the road.
- hayksaakian 11y agothe ZipCar difference is the same as buying a used car that's already been manufactured and counted towards another person's P value
- hackuser 11y agoIt heard that the branding team ruled out using "Google Hitchhiker". What's the difference? Google's/Uber's/Lyft's imprimatur that your passenger is trustworthy? More surety of payment? If I want to take the risk, why won't cities let me give hitchhiker's rides for cash (or even credit card payments)?
- mjmahone17 11y agoIn the US, especially among people of politically-influential age, hitchhiking has a fairly negative connotation. In most US states, hitchhiking is at least restricted, and sometimes entirely illegal. There was a long period in the 80's where hitchhikers were portrayed as criminal, untrustworthy and those who would pick them up were likely to want to hurt them. Carpooling, on the other hand, is highly encouraged, even to the point where local governments create special infrastructure to encourage people to do it. Are hitchhiking and carpooling two sides of the same coin? Yeah, probably. Should we be more encouraging of hitchhikers? Again, I think so. But if you have a positive message "Look at all the cars we're taking off the road! We're helping people meet others in similar situations, who all want to commute together!" it sets you up for a very different interaction with the public and with governments than "Hey, wouldn't it be great if we could get people to hitchhike more?"
- lovemenot 11y agoCould be just a very limited service for a narrow use case. Google may want to better know which techie in Israel goes where. Say, for the purposes of optimising hiring, investment, product development, security ...
- svs 11y agoCarpooling has fundamental challenges that are perhaps impossible to overcome. For one, dynamic routing for two or more people is always going to hurt the user experience. Imagine you're running late and your car re-routes to pick up another passenger - ugh! Shared transportation for anything more than a neighbourhood trip should be professionally driven and to a schedule. That schedule can be dynamic as anything but must be solid and offer guarantees BEFORE the trip starts as to start point, route, etc. Basically a very smart and discoverable bus.
- mjmahone17 11y agoOn the other hand, for commutes from, say, SF to Mountain View, or Mesa to Scottsdale, I bet a lot of drivers would love to have an extra passenger so they could use the HOV lane. During rush hour, the difference between being able to use the HOV lane vs. not could easily be 30 minutes.
- tmalsburg2 11y agoIn Germany, carpooling has been a mainstream thing since the mid-90ies or perhaps even earlier. The majority of trips are long-distance, i.e across-country. You are right that carpooling has has some shortcomings but it's so ridiculously cheap that many people happily accept those shortcomings. I used it many times when I was a student and 90% of the trips went as planned.
- samstave 11y agoThis isn't Google creating am uber rival, it is quelling competition for the rideshare services that exist for co-commuting.