Uber Turns to Saudi Arabia for $3.5B Cash Infusion • Hacker News Board

Re: Uber Turns to Saudi Arabia for $3.5B Cash Infusion

#271

Post by kuschku » Thu, Jun 02, 2016, 7:34 AM UTC

loeg wrote: post #225

macspoofing wrote: post #158

Earlier quoted context omitted.

>You can split an Uber 4 ways but you can't split a bus fare. Like a taxi? Uber will never come close to moving the sheer numbers that public transit does. You can't do it, not enough road to fit all those cars. Especially in downtown cores. So Uber competes with public transit as much as taxis compete with public transit.

Yes, like a taxi. The primary benefits Uber has over traditional Taxis are 1. price; 2. they have an app, and it works well; 3. drivers arrive in vaguely predictable times that are less than 45 minutes; and 4. it doesn't discriminate as badly as cabbies. > Uber will never come close to moving the sheer numbers that public transit does. You can't do it, not enough road to fit all those cars. Especially in downtown cor…

The only thing uber has over most taxis in Germany is that they’re cheaper. And that they don’t have proper insurance.

Re: Uber Turns to Saudi Arabia for $3.5B Cash Infusion

#272

Post by kuschku » Thu, Jun 02, 2016, 7:37 AM UTC

bduerst wrote: post #143

dharmon wrote: post #115

Earlier quoted context omitted.

This is the oft-repeated argument in favor of Uber ("they're a logistics company!"), and to be honest, it's quite hand-wavey. Why is the expertise they have built up in car-hailing directly applicable to other logistics problems, and what advantage will they have going in that creates a barrier to entry for newcomers? I think there is one answer to this for Uber, and its the same strategy Amazon stumbled into: have y…

Yep. The reason that's the next predictable response is because Uber is holding off for self-driving cars, so it can become the logistics network for delivery. That doesn't mean that they will, of course. I have a feeling that these platform-locked services like Uber and Lyft will not be able to compete with the scalability of an open auction network.

They also won’t be able to compete with the likes of DHL, delivering within of a single day across the whole globe for affordable rates, and already – even before Amazon announced their drones – test flying with their own drones first test deliveries in some select cities.

Re: Uber Turns to Saudi Arabia for $3.5B Cash Infusion

#273

Post by hyperbovine » Thu, Jun 02, 2016, 7:55 AM UTC

rasz_pl wrote: post #254

hyperbovine wrote: post #244

Earlier quoted context omitted.

> Not many barriers to these apps. Two words: network effect. More drivers means more users. More users attracts more drivers. This is precisely why we have eBay and Craigslist despite them both offering, by modern standards, objectively terrible user experiences. Suffice it to say I am extremely bullish on Uber, Airbnb, etc. sticking around for a whole.

Except taxis also experience network effect. There is no central 'hail a taxi' telephone number(at least in my part of the world, might be different in NY), every company has its own numbers, own dispatch, and own rates. They all compete with each other, and while some bigger companies might ride on the too lazy dont care just come and pick me up tail of the market, majority still chooses their ride based on the rate…

I didn't say I was from the US. The average EU state is the size of Illinois and has maybe three or four population centers. It's no wonder that there are many regional carriers competing within each country. God help you once you start crossing borders though--evidently there isn't fierce competition on price, or the EU wouldn't have stepped in and capped roaming rates!

Re: Uber Turns to Saudi Arabia for $3.5B Cash Infusion

#274

Post by jaxondu » Thu, Jun 02, 2016, 7:55 AM UTC

methehack wrote: post #82

I've always been a little confused about uber's capital needs. When I first heard about uber, the part I thought was super-clever was that you wouldn't _need_ lots of capital because all the drivers would have their own cars. Leveraging the latent capital of one side of the two-sided market was the genius of it. (Airbnb too) Same for the staffing -- hook up both sides of the market. No need to pay anyone out of your…

Maybe Uber needs much more cash to fend off the alliance of Lyft (US) + Didi (China) + Ola (India) + Grab (SEA). Grab in Singapore just announced that you can now use the Grab app to book Lyft drive when in US.

Re: Uber Turns to Saudi Arabia for $3.5B Cash Infusion

#275

Post by kriro » Thu, Jun 02, 2016, 8:05 AM UTC

A "we drive you" company taking financing from the only country in the world that prohibits women from driving. I guess that's somewhat noteworthy. Maybe some of that money goes towards Wali notification if a female passenger wants to take a Uber ride in Saudi Arabia. "Your protectee wants to take a ride from A to B. Accept/decline." It'll need an auto accept for women over 45 as they are allowed to travel alone.

Re: Uber Turns to Saudi Arabia for $3.5B Cash Infusion

#276

Post by Myrmornis » Thu, Jun 02, 2016, 8:06 AM UTC

nilkn wrote: post #101

CPLX wrote: post #78

Earlier quoted context omitted.

In my experience this is actually happening. For example many of my friends are now using Dial-7 to get to and from the airport these days for business trips. It's just more predictable than wondering if there will be surge pricing when you need to leave, they actually are slightly cheaper, and you know what you're going to get. Uber's user experience has a lot going for it but it's very, very far from flawless or un…

For getting to/from the airport in my own city, I still use the old limo driver that I was using before Uber took off. Literally the same guy, not just the same service/company. When friends or family members fly down to visit I sometimes book him for them as well. It's about the same price as Uber (I voluntarily pay more because I tip him generously), but it's a 100% guaranteed fantastic experience. With Uber, you n…

No normal ( :) ) person cares about getting a fantastic experience when taking a taxi. They just want to get from A to B reliably and safely and without messing about with tipping.

Re: Uber Turns to Saudi Arabia for $3.5B Cash Infusion

#277

Post by reledi » Thu, Jun 02, 2016, 8:10 AM UTC

mandeepj wrote: post #257

discardorama wrote: post #196

Earlier quoted context omitted.

> So where's all this cash going? Is the driver side being subsidized to a ridiculous degree still (this is, actually, my guess)? I was in India recently. The driver said that when Uber started out, they'd give each driver Rs. 60K/mo (about $1000/mo) just to sign in for 10 hours/day, even if they did not give a single ride. Now, Uber pays by the number of rides and not a portion of the actual fares. So, for example,…

> it removes the incentive for the driver to dick around and do a TSP around the city to drive up the fare With GPS, drivers can't do this.

They can and they do. The onus is on the passenger to report issues such as indirect routes.

Re: Uber Turns to Saudi Arabia for $3.5B Cash Infusion

#278

Post by tn13 » Thu, Jun 02, 2016, 8:13 AM UTC

methehack wrote: post #82

I've always been a little confused about uber's capital needs. When I first heard about uber, the part I thought was super-clever was that you wouldn't _need_ lots of capital because all the drivers would have their own cars. Leveraging the latent capital of one side of the two-sided market was the genius of it. (Airbnb too) Same for the staffing -- hook up both sides of the market. No need to pay anyone out of your…

Lobbying is my primary guess.

They are disrupting one of the most heavily regulated markets where government is protecting special interest groups. I would not even have bet any money that Uber could have taken off the ground. But they have done well.

Re: Uber Turns to Saudi Arabia for $3.5B Cash Infusion

#279

Post by syngrog66 » Thu, Jun 02, 2016, 8:27 AM UTC

in short: lawyers, politicians (whether legal donations or illegal bribes), and accountants. each of which will vary by jurisdiction (city, county, state, nation, etc.) yes, the core server-side codebase design/code/operate will be about the same. yes, each taxi operator will own/buy/provide their own hardware. yes, the mobile platform app codebase is fairly unified/common.

but... it's all those jurisdictional and market differences. plus, the advantage to subsidize and accelerate, that will likely cause the lion's share of thirst for bootup investor cash. Uber's biggest problem, as a 2000-ish YC/SF-style "software" startup is that there is no Amazon/AWS-like cloud provider of vehicular rides. Because you need, well, vehicles. Which are expensive and messy. Uber needs enough cash to ensure enough vehicles, plus those messy human drivers, plus all those locale/jurisdiction-specific requirements, are satisfied and ready. Human/political/legal costs don't scale up/down anywhere near as well as totally automatable solutions like pure software.

Re: Uber Turns to Saudi Arabia for $3.5B Cash Infusion

#280

Post by adgulacti » Thu, Jun 02, 2016, 8:33 AM UTC

sjg007 wrote: post #194

mikeash wrote: post #111

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Don't forget Domino's. They and others in their business had this whole thing with drivers using their own cars for short notice transportation jobs decades ago.

It's like uber for pizza.

more like uber is domino's for people