Earlier quoted context omitted.
Your parents will be irrelevant in 2 or 3 generations from now. At some point, fully autonomous will be a norm without the fear.
2-3 generations is a long time to make money.
Tell that to Jeff Bezos.
G.M. Invests $500M in Lyft
61–70 of 402 posts
Re: G.M. Invests $500M in Lyft
#62I think GM is wasting their money. The talented engineers in this space are flocking to Tesla, Google and soon-to-be Apple.
This can change imo, lyft still hasn't got a bad reputation (I live in SF and have never heard neither good or bad things about being an engineer there).
Engineer culture is complex and moving, and I believe just a few very good/bad decisions can tip the scale either way.
Re: G.M. Invests $500M in Lyft
#63Earlier quoted context omitted.
> Uber seems like a company run by pricks I recently interviewed with Uber in Asia, spoke to a half dozen people there right up to the head of the region and many Americans who have been with the company for years, and I did not get the job (so, clearly not biased towards the company). Here's my one data point: they were all really nice, professional, competent people I'd actually want to work with. When I say nice,…
Just wondering, do you think the fact that you "poked a bit towards the "unethical" side of things" played any part in you not getting the position?
I wish it was the case (wouldn't that be convenient for my reputation) but it was a more standard culture fit problem, they didn't think we'd work well together. Specifically, the job involved a lot of cross-office coordination and I'm more of a "get the job done", technically focused kind of manager than the more political nature of the managerial role in question (political in the sense that you need to help multiple teams work together harmoniously and efficiently, not House of Cards).
They were quite open with feedback which is another reason I have good feelings towards the company. The whole process was very quick - responses in days. Compared to what my friends tell me about Google's sometimes multi-year process, it's a dream.
I don't know how much I can say about their internal structure but what I found very cool (especially as a former Rocket Internet employee) was their focus on and methods for detecting and spreading knowledge across the entire organisation, which is sort of decentralised even if many important decisions are made in California.
This is something we never got right at Rocket, where companies and regions are much more independent and have wildly differing methods and standards. It was very rare for things to cross over beyond the "startup code" (the PHP e-commerce codebase that is sent over to be deployed when a venture is opened) and some marketing methodology. The other large companies I've been familiar with are better at sharing information, but tend to have a global hub where most of the thinking is done anyway (i.e. knowledge tends to radiate outwards).
Re: G.M. Invests $500M in Lyft
#64I don't know whether this is a real difference or not, but Lyft "feels" like a much nicer company than Uber. I'm not thrilled about Lyft's rampant hipster-branding, but Uber seems like a company run by pricks. Maybe it's just because they're the underdog, but I'm really rooting for Lyft.
When I was in Colorado Springs, Lyft was much more available than Uber so I used it for the first time after only having ever used Uber for the past year. The major thing I found different was the driver wanted me to sit in the front and was much more enthusiastic about conversation. It wasn't bad but it was definitely different and somewhat offputting. Not sure if that was just a single event, but I wonder if each c…
I have found the exact same thing in Uber drivers -- questions like "How was your day?" are commonplace, and some have chewing gum or other amenities.
Re: G.M. Invests $500M in Lyft
#65The "short-term car rental hubs... where people who do not own cars can pick up a vehicle and drive for Lyft to earn money" is a nice idea in the short-term. I still think Uber has the right idea long-term with a completely autonomous fleet, but once those hit the market, there will still be a pretty large demand for NON-autonomous vehicles -- take my parents, for instance, who refuse to get into a car not driven by…
That's kind of interesting for me to hear.
The last few times that I've rented an Uber, the driver (I usually use the "black car" option) usually shows up in a rented National/Enterprise vehicle (if you rent enough vehicles in a year you can tell the differences between the three big rental companies).
The plates/vehicle description tend to match what arrives for me (e.g., Uber tells me that I'm expecting a Black 300, I get a Black 300); admittedly, I do not know what happens on the back end to add a vehicle (if it's Uber or if it's the driver), but, it seems to me that this is already happening in some areas.
Re: G.M. Invests $500M in Lyft
#66I think GM is wasting their money. The talented engineers in this space are flocking to Tesla, Google and soon-to-be Apple.
Who the heck wants to enter the GM tech culture?
Re: G.M. Invests $500M in Lyft
#67So Google+Ford, Lyft+GM, Tesla on both sides software/hardware... Where is Uber's Hardware going to come from now? I wonder if this is an instance where the personalities involved with Uber are having a detrimental effect on these sorts of long-term needs. Or is there something yet to be announced?
Didn't Uber buy the Carnegie Mellon robotics division? Is it too much to think they might try for their own hardware platform? It might be, but why else do so?
Developing a car is very expensive.
Re: G.M. Invests $500M in Lyft
#68I think GM is wasting their money. The talented engineers in this space are flocking to Tesla, Google and soon-to-be Apple.
Who the heck wants to enter the GM tech culture?
It's an investment and probably a board seat. I doubt GM is going to interfere with their day to day engineering decisions.
Re: G.M. Invests $500M in Lyft
#69The "short-term car rental hubs... where people who do not own cars can pick up a vehicle and drive for Lyft to earn money" is a nice idea in the short-term. I still think Uber has the right idea long-term with a completely autonomous fleet, but once those hit the market, there will still be a pretty large demand for NON-autonomous vehicles -- take my parents, for instance, who refuse to get into a car not driven by…
>I still think Uber has the right idea long-term with a completely autonomous fleet...
I really disagree here. I think the biggest strength of Uber's business model is that they offload all of the maintenance, fuel, liability, registration, etc. costs (as well as the cost of managing all of that) to the drivers. In addition, local regulators have been treating Uber with kid gloves in a lot of markets because Uber "creates jobs"; when Uber starts getting in the business of putting drivers, both their own and drivers for other companies, out of work, I wouldn't be surprised if a lot of markets start making it even harder for them to operate. Don't get me wrong, I'm very excited for autonomous cars, and absolutely think they will be omnipresent in the long-term future, but I don't think Uber will be the company that dominates that market, at least not in the short-to-medium term, and trying to do so will be their Waterloo.
Re: G.M. Invests $500M in Lyft
#70Earlier quoted context omitted.
Not being pressured to carry cash is a suboptimal experience? I refuse to carry cash. If I were to take Uber, I'd have drivers one-starring me and giving me a bad reputation for not tipping them. With Lyft, I can tip in the app and avoid all that mess.
People tip Uber drivers? I've never done it or seen anyone else do it.
I wanted to once, didn't have any cash.
It was because the guy let me bring my dog (in her large cage) in his van which was definitely a bit beyond normal.