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Google has reportedly stopped developing its own self-driving car

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Re: Google has reportedly stopped developing its own self-driving car

#131

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Uber says Pool is at 20+% of the rides. Huh, I stand partially corrected!

I think most people would prefer no delays and a private ride. But the savings of pooling is too large for many to ignore.

Pool also appears to be the default option now, so I on a recent trip accidentally got a pool a couple times. I didn't know the first time, and forgot the second.

Second time was also a 'pool' with no additional riders, so it was a happy accident for a cheaper ride. Perhaps people bet on that as well?

Re: Google has reportedly stopped developing its own self-driving car

#132

Everybody is rushing to develop their own self-driving car, then they change their minds in various ways, then team members change who they work for, some of them quit and start their own company, some fail, some got acquihired. They give deadlines and cannot meet them. Everyone is dying to be first in the market or something like it. Feels there is so much greed. I don't get it, what's the big fuss, why must everyon…

The first person to succeed will usher in a new transportation revolution and become insanely rich.

But I think a certain amount of hubris is what's causing all these companies to take a swing and then back out once they realize what they're up against. It's not an easy nut to crack. The software in itself is incredibly complicated, not to mention the politics involved, and all the special interests you have to win over before you can even pass go. But then the fact that you need to attach it to a car means you also have to compete in one of the largest and most competitive industries that ever existed.

Re: Google has reportedly stopped developing its own self-driving car

#133

Everybody is rushing to develop their own self-driving car, then they change their minds in various ways, then team members change who they work for, some of them quit and start their own company, some fail, some got acquihired. They give deadlines and cannot meet them. Everyone is dying to be first in the market or something like it. Feels there is so much greed. I don't get it, what's the big fuss, why must everyon…

Google has been working on this for over a decade, I think it's fair to say that they are taking it slow.

Re: Google has reportedly stopped developing its own self-driving car

#134
post #102

I don't think this is all that surprising to be honest. Google is (by and large) a software development and services company, not a car manufacturer. If they make their own autonomous vehicles, that means they then have to handle everything from safety testing to customer support and sales in addition to the self driving car technology itself. By working with existing car manufacturers, they can focus on their part o…

Just like the did with smartphones. Maybe that's why most Android phones aren't that good.

Re: Google has reportedly stopped developing its own self-driving car

#135
post #102

I don't think this is all that surprising to be honest. Google is (by and large) a software development and services company, not a car manufacturer. If they make their own autonomous vehicles, that means they then have to handle everything from safety testing to customer support and sales in addition to the self driving car technology itself. By working with existing car manufacturers, they can focus on their part o…

I have the same response to people who claim Tesla will take over ridehsaring once they have a self-driving car (as opposed to just selling to existing ones that have already built a customer base and worked out the domain specific problems).

Re: Google has reportedly stopped developing its own self-driving car

#136
post #102

I don't think this is all that surprising to be honest. Google is (by and large) a software development and services company, not a car manufacturer. If they make their own autonomous vehicles, that means they then have to handle everything from safety testing to customer support and sales in addition to the self driving car technology itself. By working with existing car manufacturers, they can focus on their part o…

Working on self-driving cars, much like working on advanced robots, requires tight integration between the software, sensors, and motors. These aspects cannot really be developed independently, especially if you want to end up with an optimized system that could be a product.

Safety is a part of this, too.

Google has ~10 years of experience in self-driving cars. They also have acquired many robotics companies. Surely, they know this.

[edit: reorder]

Re: Google has reportedly stopped developing its own self-driving car

#137

Everybody is rushing to develop their own self-driving car, then they change their minds in various ways, then team members change who they work for, some of them quit and start their own company, some fail, some got acquihired. They give deadlines and cannot meet them. Everyone is dying to be first in the market or something like it. Feels there is so much greed. I don't get it, what's the big fuss, why must everyon…

The first person to succeed will usher in a new transportation revolution and become insanely rich. But I think a certain amount of hubris is what's causing all these companies to take a swing and then back out once they realize what they're up against. It's not an easy nut to crack. The software in itself is incredibly complicated, not to mention the politics involved, and all the special interests you have to win o…

[deleted]

Re: Google has reportedly stopped developing its own self-driving car

#138

Everybody is rushing to develop their own self-driving car, then they change their minds in various ways, then team members change who they work for, some of them quit and start their own company, some fail, some got acquihired. They give deadlines and cannot meet them. Everyone is dying to be first in the market or something like it. Feels there is so much greed. I don't get it, what's the big fuss, why must everyon…

The first person to succeed will usher in a new transportation revolution and become insanely rich. But I think a certain amount of hubris is what's causing all these companies to take a swing and then back out once they realize what they're up against. It's not an easy nut to crack. The software in itself is incredibly complicated, not to mention the politics involved, and all the special interests you have to win o…

[deleted]

Re: Google has reportedly stopped developing its own self-driving car

#139
post #102

I don't think this is all that surprising to be honest. Google is (by and large) a software development and services company, not a car manufacturer. If they make their own autonomous vehicles, that means they then have to handle everything from safety testing to customer support and sales in addition to the self driving car technology itself. By working with existing car manufacturers, they can focus on their part o…

Yes, perhaps, but the counter to this is that they could "benefit from the closed system of vertical integration" that seems to be all the rage these days. I could envision a scenario where they partner with existing manufacturers for a couple years, then "courageously" break off and produce their own vehicle in order to "control the process".

That would be one hell of an ecosystem to bootstrap, even starting with a partnership with an existing company, even for Google. Building "a" car isn't that hard. Building a car that conforms with all regulations, has had all the testing done on it, can be manufactured at any useful scale, and, oh, also is something that people want to buy, is not a problem that should be underestimated.

(Yes, props to Tesla. They did it. Well... mostly, at least, but it's at least a reasonable guess they're on a success trajectory. It's still a hard problem.)

It would probably be easier for Google to manufacture their own computing hardware from scratch, and as far as I know, they don't do that. Yes, they get it customized because they are a big customer, and they've at least dabbled in phone hardware, but even that wasn't "from scratch". I've got a 2013 Nexus tablet, and it's got all sorts of things in it that aren't from Google.

As big as Google may be, they are not infinitely big, and they have the paradoxical problem of being too successful to take on every little business. Large profitable businesses can't economically afford to take on new businesses that are significantly less profitable than their current businesses, because the rational business decision then is to reallocate the resources being given to the unprofitable sub-business and give them to the profitable sub-business to make more profits. [1] The car industry is very hit-driven due to the need to sell enough cars to overcome massive fixed costs, but even at in their most profitable years I'm not sure the car companies came even close to Google's profitability. I'm not taking the time to look that claim up, because I'm sure that even if they did, they never did it year after year after year the way Google has.

[1] Obviously I'm simplifying a complex thing here. I understand that's a complicated topic, but details would be an unimportant-to-my-point waste of time for all.

Re: Google has reportedly stopped developing its own self-driving car

#140
post #102

I don't think this is all that surprising to be honest. Google is (by and large) a software development and services company, not a car manufacturer. If they make their own autonomous vehicles, that means they then have to handle everything from safety testing to customer support and sales in addition to the self driving car technology itself. By working with existing car manufacturers, they can focus on their part o…

Just like the did with smartphones. Maybe that's why most Android phones aren't that good.

Galaxy series phones are fantastic.
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