61–70 of 294 posts
On the other hand, Google has only been successful with search and advertising and are known for terrible customer service. I mean, who are you going to call when your driver rapes you? You'll never be able to talk to a human.
Google could cut Uber down hard by pulling Google Maps API access. Ballsiest play Google has ever done if they execute on this. Love it.
Considering Google have invested a fair bit of cash into Uber which might be a tax write-off for Google, I would probably say we are going to see Google try and buy Uber out instead. Cutting off their maps access would probably open up a can of worms for Google as Uber would undoubtedly take legal action (and they have the funds to really go for it), there could be a little bit of conflict of interest happening here…
1. http://www.mercurynews.com/ci_23041939/san-jose-city-council...
Uber have struck me before as a bigger potential headache for Google than even Facebook were/are, and I suspect this is all an effort to acquire them and drive the price down. There is something about the automated dispatch at giant scale business which overlaps with the search as interface idea. "Get me to [wherever]" is a natural extension of what you might do after searching. Furthermore, the act of finding a driv…
On the one hand, this is great. Competition and I couldn't wish Google's infinite pockets on a more terrible group of people. On the other hand, Google has only been successful with search and advertising and are known for terrible customer service. I mean, who are you going to call when your driver rapes you? You'll never be able to talk to a human.
Earlier quoted context omitted.
Electric vehicles cost about 1-3 cents/mile for the electricity. They also require so little service, I would assume the cost would be closer to 10-20 cents/mile for a self-driving electric vehicle.
I was baselining from here: http://www.irs.gov/2014-Standard-Mileage-Rates-for-Business,... but, sure, it would most likely be less.
Google could cut Uber down hard by pulling Google Maps API access. Ballsiest play Google has ever done if they execute on this. Love it.
so when any other company does something like this, we cry anti-trust. But when Google does it, it's good business? I'm not sure where all of this Google love comes from on HN (besides all of the engineers that work there). Google is just as evil as any large corporation. They may surgar-coat everything with a "do no evil" mantra, but it's just good PR. When you peel back these layers, it's business as usual.
Google hasn't done this. So let's not get worked up about a hypothetical.
> David Drummond, Google’s chief legal officer and senior vice president of corporate development, joined the Uber board of directors in 2013, and has served on it ever since. Not super related to this story, but I always have to wonder: why do powerful people join boards? What's in it for them? It seems like an awful lot of work, responsibility, and potential for conflict of interest. What do board members get out o…
> David Drummond, Google’s chief legal officer and senior vice president of corporate development, joined the Uber board of directors in 2013, and has served on it ever since. Not super related to this story, but I always have to wonder: why do powerful people join boards? What's in it for them? It seems like an awful lot of work, responsibility, and potential for conflict of interest. What do board members get out o…
If Drummond got 0.1% Equity as a Director, it would've been worth $3.4M the day he joined and if he wasn't diluted, it would be worth $40M today. (I realize that both of those assumptions are unlikely, but it's still interesting as an example)