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Waymo seeking about $16B near $110B valuation

bloomberg.com

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Re: Waymo seeking about $16B near $110B valuation

#191

Post by seanmcdirmid »

sowbug wrote: post #139
seanmcdirmid wrote: post #111

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Based on the news, I think Waymo will import base vehicle builds from China and then adding the control systems and software to those. So it’s not like they will start making cars.

That sounds right. Unless Waymo considers car manufacturers to be its competition and therefore something to commoditize, it wouldn't make sense for them to get involved in ground-up manufacturing. And by this point, it seems like an electric-car platform already is close to a commodity, which is another reason for Waymo not to waste capital building another.

They probably see the electronics and software as their product, hopefully they will license it to someone so my next car will have it :). Lidar prices are cheap enough these days (but coming out of China, so who knows with Trump if that will apply to us).

Re: Waymo seeking about $16B near $110B valuation

#192

Post by jeffbee »

dzonga wrote: post #145
bryanlarsen wrote: post #121

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Waymo has 0 need for manufacturing capacity. There are dozens of companies that do that really well at a low margin already that'll be happy for the business. They made a timing mistake by choosing Zeekr for it, which is limiting their expansion at the moment. That's a lot easier/cheaper/quicker to fix by choosing a different partner than by building their own.

zeeker ? Wow that is news. thought Waymo was partnered with Jaguar-LandRover ?

Waymo is getting the I-Pace from Steyr, the contract manufacture who makes them for Jaguar.

Re: Waymo seeking about $16B near $110B valuation

#193

Post by ativzzz »

estearum wrote: post #98
ativzzz wrote: post #65

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Uber and Lyft operated partially or outright illegally in many places while negotiating with governments. They also had a far superior product. Just like they fought the existing taxi companies, Waymo will have to fight against Uber and Lyft's lawyers, who are probably better funded and have learned to become better entrenched in governments.

Uber and Lyft are goners, their customers don't care about them and will take Waymos the second they're available. Uber and Lyft will survive exactly to the extent they successfully adopt self-driving.

What's everyone's hate with uber and lyft rides? Over the past 10 years, I've had maybe one ride that was a 1/5. Most drivers either don't talk or are actually very pleasant conversations

I will take whichever one is cheaper. Just like now I open up both uber and lyft to see which costs less, I'll open up waymo as well

Re: Waymo seeking about $16B near $110B valuation

#194

Post by wincy »

bandofthehawk wrote: post #80
nvch wrote: post #70

Earlier quoted context omitted.

For me, this is the major selling point to own a car. I may drive a few times a week, and taxis might be much cheaper, but no way I'm going to deal with human taxi drivers if I have a choice.

This seems weird to me, maybe it's a generational thing. Is it really that bad to share a car with someone? You don't have to talk to them the whole time.

The Uber Driver who told me all about his Glock in the glove box was pretty off putting.

Also the Jeep that picked me up in August with broken air conditioning, although that was an annoyance vs “what is happening right now am I going to die”.

Re: Waymo seeking about $16B near $110B valuation

#196

Post by buellerbueller »

josu wrote: post #88
lazarus01 wrote: post #60

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Im fortunate to live in an area dense with traditional taxis and Ubers, no Waymo yet. I rarely take taxis, the exception is when I have to haul my gear to the studio for a jam session. I always take a taxi, because it’s cheaper and faster than using an app to call an uber. On 80% of the trips, I end up having a nice chat with the driver and learn something new about humanity or myself. I really enjoy these interactio…

>I wonder what will happen to the drivers if a large representation of the 1 million+ daily trips are displaced by automation? If it happens gradually enough, they will just find other jobs. After the transition, society will be producing more with the same labor force, and thus the aggregate utility will increase.

And the median wage will continue to decline, as the productivity gains are scooped up by fewer and fewer.

Re: Waymo seeking about $16B near $110B valuation

#197

Post by scyzoryk_xyz »

lazarus01 wrote: post #60
jFriedensreich wrote: post #35

No product had such a fast transition from novelty to "omg i never want to interact with a human again". I feel about 100% less stressed and happier using a waymo or riding motorbike or bicycle next to a waymo than with human drivers. I hope this next phase will bring availability and prices down. We need this in europe.

Im fortunate to live in an area dense with traditional taxis and Ubers, no Waymo yet. I rarely take taxis, the exception is when I have to haul my gear to the studio for a jam session. I always take a taxi, because it’s cheaper and faster than using an app to call an uber. On 80% of the trips, I end up having a nice chat with the driver and learn something new about humanity or myself. I really enjoy these interactio…

As a former Lyft driver in SF I felt kinda weird when saw the bit about urination. Like, that's just not a problem. As a driver you just plan ahead as in any other job out there where you're not allowed to disengage at a whim. Pilots and surgeons don't pee in bottles, why would drivers? It's kinda funny when people try to empathize but come up with these creative scenarios of what's challenging. The parts that are bad are same as any other thing done for a living: money and dealing with other people. The job was shit when people were shit and/or when the money was shit.

I enjoyed it as a job, not a career. But that was in 2015.

Re: Waymo seeking about $16B near $110B valuation

#199

Post by wincy »

overfeed wrote: post #151
bandofthehawk wrote: post #80

Earlier quoted context omitted.

This seems weird to me, maybe it's a generational thing. Is it really that bad to share a car with someone? You don't have to talk to them the whole time.

> Is it really that bad to share a car with someone? Sometimes it is, and you never really know when. Some of my most unpleasant experiences involved a couple of reckless drivers, even more nutters who insisted on talking about their politics or pet peeves, I fear one of them may have gone beyond mere eccentricity and probably required some medical intervention, but couldn't figure out how to report that without poss…

Hah, I had a 2am conversation with a woman from Argentina about Javier Milei which is one of my Uber riding highlights.

But then another time a guy warned me not to open his glove box because his Glock was in there and he sounded deranged and it’s the one time I’ve literally gotten out of the car and cancelled my Uber.

One female Uber driver told me about how she had to go to court because a drunk man threatened to stab her with a knife (that he was brandishing), then he passed out and the police had to haul him out of her car. The .1% ruin it for everyone else.

Re: Waymo seeking about $16B near $110B valuation

#200

Post by Hikikomori »

dmoy wrote: post #119
jFriedensreich wrote: post #110

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I don't live in Berlin, but even if: have you ever taken public transport in less mainstream lines? Apart from nothing working and connections taking forever and operations stopping at night, horrible signage that lets you stress even more, you sit next to human excrements, hooligans coming from football games, nazis wanting to beat you up, stink, rude music and beggers. I sometimes miss it for sentimental value, but…

Is there really that much poop on Berlin public transit? Seattle has some of the highest per capital homeless in the US, and a dearth of public toilets, and yet there's not that much poop on our public transit. I am also skeptical that y'all's violent crime rate is higher than ours. Granted I haven't taken Berlin public transit in 20 yrs, so I don't know.

Didn't see any poop in berlin, but did see it in Shibuya station, spread out by hundreds of people.
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