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Google has reportedly stopped developing its own self-driving car

techcrunch.com

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

#161

Post by Bedon292 »

iainmerrick wrote: post #148
Bedon292 wrote: post #131

Earlier quoted context omitted.

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?

If we're imagining a pleasant future where self-driving cars have solved congestion, isn't some kind of car pooling going to be necessary? It's fundamentally silly for millions of commuters to each travel in their own car, and robot cars aren't going to fix that. Buses make massively more efficient use of road space (when they're reasonably full, anyway). Robot cars should reduce accidents, and parking problems will…

Valid point, car pooling would definitely be a good thing. And I think people would be more willing if it was more efficient than it is. Uber Pool does not seem to match people very well. Scheduled rides could probably be very optimized, so its two minutes out of the way, for each person, and no one really minds. Also optimizations like, if the rider isn't there yet, don't even go for them and pass them on to the next car. Definitely plausible, but a pain in current formats.

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

#162

Post by SilasX »

toomuchtodo wrote: post #151
SilasX wrote: post #135

Earlier quoted context omitted.

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).

Because clearly Uber would succeed over a manufacturer who actually makes self driving car. Aren't there already almost 8-10 ridesharing options available in Austin after Uber and Lyft vacated? Uber and Lyft are the WebVan of this decade.

Just like GM prefers to run taxi services rather than just focus on making cars and selling them to th highest bidders (including taxi companies)?

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

#163

Post by dmix »

pakl wrote: post #136
CM30 wrote: 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…

But the reality of the product/market is that it will be a transitionary stage between assisted self-driving cars -> full robotic cars. There have been a number of complex highly technical products that have components developed independently and integrated at the end (fighter jets, space shuttles, etc).

It's possible Google will want to acquire one of the car companies to full do vertical integration. But that is not entirely necessary right now.

And given the whole complex regulatory and distribution constraints in the marketplace for automobiles it's good to have a partnership with a car company who has years of experience dealing with those issues.

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

#164

Post by nickgrosvenor »

So Google's ad revenue business subsidized the education of thousands of people who took their newly acquired knowledge of autonomous vehicles to the big car companies.

Aside from the Ad business Google is more like Stanford than any actual business.

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

#165

Post by greglindahl »

jandrese wrote: post #149
CM30 wrote: 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 suspect Google got cold feet when they started considering the liability issues once this goes mainstream. Even their millions of miles road tests were done at low speeds near their campus.

A lot of Google's testing was done on US 101 and other interstates at highway speeds, insomuch as there wasn't a traffic jam at the time.

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

#166

Post by vxNsr »

blahfuk wrote: post #128
athenot wrote: post #116

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Even Elon Musk admitted it was crazy to take on cars. I suppose it's one of those industries that looks simple from the outside because we're so familiar with the user side, but the manufacturing of which is surprisingly complex.

As someone who's worked for one of the big 3, the supply chain and logistics is mind-boggling. Not to mention what it takes to create factories that can put out vehicles at the rate of the big guys. I don't think Google or any other software company could compete without completely retooling their entire company. It's not something you can do as a side project.

To add to this: when GM tried to copy the Toyota model it took them 20 years and they still went bankrupt.... And now Tesla is using the factory that was created for that original purpose.

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

#167

Post by yalogin »

This has to be considered a failure on some grounds at least. Why haven't they made an acquisition to bolster their shortcomings? They bought boston dynamics which failed. I am guessing they just did not see the ROI in getting into car manufacturing. Instead they see themselves as an "Android for self driving cars" company there by building their systems/software for cars, drones, etc.

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

#168

Post by toomuchtodo »

SilasX wrote: post #162
toomuchtodo wrote: post #151

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Because clearly Uber would succeed over a manufacturer who actually makes self driving car. Aren't there already almost 8-10 ridesharing options available in Austin after Uber and Lyft vacated? Uber and Lyft are the WebVan of this decade.

Just like GM prefers to run taxi services rather than just focus on making cars and selling them to th highest bidders (including taxi companies)?

Uber profit margin: 0.

GM/Ford Profit Margin: 9-12%

Tesla Profit Margin: 22.8%

Go where the margin is.

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

#169

Post by novigodd »

Does anyone seriously believe that seld-driving cars are only a few years away?

So far I have only seen them working in nicely controlled environments (American suburbs or highways, nice weather, clear road markings, etc). And even then they drive slowly and awkwardly.

How will they handle the narrow roads in British towns, the unwritten right-of-way rules on Swiss mountain roads, the scooter avalanches of Vietnamese cities, the pot hole riddled streets of Russian cities, etc?

I think this is just an other case of Silicon Valley folks not realizing what's outside of their bubble.

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

#170

Post by emcq »

slackoverflower wrote: post #107

So many leeway for Tesla. Uber's only hope for beating Tesla's car sharing feature was working with Google. Uber is not even profitable yet, they can't invest in this category yet. Tesla going to steal the show, already Apple-like cult forming around it.

Uber bought Otto, an autonomous vehicle startup that was created by many of the Google X car folks. I think Uber is doing fine.
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