Uber seeking to buy self-driving cars: source • Hacker News Board

Re: Uber seeking to buy self-driving cars: source

#21

Post by toomuchtodo » Fri, Mar 18, 2016, 5:11 PM UTC

spaceflunky wrote: post #18

At that kind of volume, would it make more sense to have MB develop a bespoke car for Uber? The S-Class is a great car, but I'm sure there are Uber-specific improvements that can be made. Why would you order some many of something 'off-the-shelf'?

I don't think you'd find any manufacturer who would tool up for a bespoke car. Uber either needs to buy an existing manufacturer with existing large scale capacity, or build out their own capacity. And we've seen with Tesla how much and long that capacity takes to build out for only 100K vehicles/year.

Uber is capital chasing a potential treasure chest. Google, Tesla, GM/Lyft/Cruise are the real players it appears.

Re: Uber seeking to buy self-driving cars: source

#22

Post by thedz » Fri, Mar 18, 2016, 5:12 PM UTC

nodesocket wrote: post #7

Wow, that's a huge amount of capital to spend upfront. Wonder if this is for their black service or more targeted in Europe.

The article specifically mentions this is a long term order. So it's likely on the scale of years, and not upfront

Re: Uber seeking to buy self-driving cars: source

#23

Post by mixedbit » Fri, Mar 18, 2016, 5:13 PM UTC

mmakunas wrote: post #6

Maybe I'm missing something but that number sounds hard to believe. An S-Class in the US is $100K. Even if a stripped down "utility" version was available at $50K that's $5B worth of cars. Yes, it's a "long term" order (i.e., not paid for and delivered at once), but that seems way beyond anything even Uber would do.

Well, if they expect to use them as self driving cars (which the article mentions), the investment can pay out pretty quickly. Say they can make on average 5$ per ride. To make $60k they need 12k rides. A self driving car should be able to easily make 12k rides in one year (only 32 rides per day).

Re: Uber seeking to buy self-driving cars: source

#24

Post by jdietrich » Fri, Mar 18, 2016, 5:13 PM UTC

mlrtime wrote: post #3

Mercedes/Audi/BMW taxis are common in Germany. This doesn't mean you'll be able to order your S class in NYC/SF any time soon.

My thoughts exactly. Uber are struggling to get a foothold in Europe because of regulation. I suspect the plan is to become a traditional taxi or limousine operator in these hostile markets, leasing cars to licensed taxi drivers. Using S class rather than the more common C class cars would fit with their existing Uber Black service.

Re: Uber seeking to buy self-driving cars: source

#25

Post by alvern » Fri, Mar 18, 2016, 5:13 PM UTC

This makes a lot of sense. S-class cars already have the sensors for self-driving in highway conditions. Uber UATC is actively working on the software for autonomous drivers.

This is a large scale capital investment in a safe luxury service that Uber can sell in certain markets. I'm betting the s-class needs very little hardware to wire into what UATC is developing.

Re: Uber seeking to buy self-driving cars: source

#26

Post by _ak » Fri, Mar 18, 2016, 5:14 PM UTC

maxxxxx wrote: post #15

mlrtime wrote: post #3

Mercedes/Audi/BMW taxis are common in Germany. This doesn't mean you'll be able to order your S class in NYC/SF any time soon.

Taxis are not S class in Germany.

Here in Berlin, they're E class. So you're talking about E-segment vs F-segment cars here. Not that big of a step here.

Re: Uber seeking to buy self-driving cars: source

#27

Post by ebbv » Fri, Mar 18, 2016, 5:14 PM UTC

gk1 wrote: post #10

mmakunas wrote: post #6

Maybe I'm missing something but that number sounds hard to believe. An S-Class in the US is $100K. Even if a stripped down "utility" version was available at $50K that's $5B worth of cars. Yes, it's a "long term" order (i.e., not paid for and delivered at once), but that seems way beyond anything even Uber would do.

I'm sure there's a volume discount when you order 100,000 of anything, even an S-Class. There's also the possibility of this not entirely being a cash sale. That is, if the report is even true.

Yeah but how much of a discount? The example in question was already assuming $50k per car which is already a tremendous discount. Even if you cut it in half again to $25k (which there's no way the price per car is that low) that's still $2.5B in cars. That's insanity.

Re: Uber seeking to buy self-driving cars: source

#28

Post by uremog » Fri, Mar 18, 2016, 5:16 PM UTC

nodesocket wrote: post #7

Wow, that's a huge amount of capital to spend upfront. Wonder if this is for their black service or more targeted in Europe.

I admit I didn't RTA, but people keep saying things like, "Uber had placed a long-term order"...

Re: Uber seeking to buy self-driving cars: source

#29

Post by fit2rule » Fri, Mar 18, 2016, 5:16 PM UTC

hazelnut wrote: post #13

gk1 wrote: post #10

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I'm sure there's a volume discount when you order 100,000 of anything, even an S-Class. There's also the possibility of this not entirely being a cash sale. That is, if the report is even true.

Think so too. Most likely Daimler will get a stake in Uber - which makes sense for both sides.

Uber is what you need to make an auto-driving automobile acceptable to the general public. With Uber spin, Daimler can push on the driver-less car in many markets..

Sci-fi days ahead methinks.

Re: Uber seeking to buy self-driving cars: source

#30

Post by pmlnr » Fri, Mar 18, 2016, 5:17 PM UTC

self-driving Uber cars? What could possibly go wrong?

...

There comes a point at which the helpfulness of technology becomes a form of oppression: walled gardens, predictive services making the wrong predictions, and every social platform forcing us to use our real names. It's cute when it's small, but what happens when self-driving cars can collude with the cops?

https://motherboard.vice.com/read/one-star ( previously: https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=11149653 )