Uber said to be negotiating sale of self-driving tech to Toyota
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Re: Uber said to be negotiating sale of self-driving tech to Toyota
#2But the way to profitability is to get rid of the diver. If the tech is gone what will they do?
Re: Uber said to be negotiating sale of self-driving tech to Toyota
#3But the way to profitability is to get rid of the diver. If the tech is gone what will they do?
It could be that they've realised the 'self-driving' part of 'self-driving cars' is only half the story - they'd also need to build cars. That's really hard to do at scale. Just look at the Tesla Model 3. Tesla has been making cars for more than a decade, and they're really struggling to scale up even with all that experience.
After all, Uber don't need to build the self-driving cars themselves to take advantage of the cost savings from removing the driver. They could just buy them once someone else has solved the hard problems.
Re: Uber said to be negotiating sale of self-driving tech to Toyota
#4But the way to profitability is to get rid of the diver. If the tech is gone what will they do?
Maybe they’ve figured out that the level of automation they’d need exists well beyond any runway they could hope to have. More damning, they may have realized that even without drivers, their business model is not profitable.
Re: Uber said to be negotiating sale of self-driving tech to Toyota
#5But the way to profitability is to get rid of the diver. If the tech is gone what will they do?
It could be that they've realised the 'self-driving' part of 'self-driving cars' is only half the story - they'd also need to build cars. That's really hard to do at scale. Just look at the Tesla Model 3. Tesla has been making cars for more than a decade, and they're really struggling to scale up even with all that experience. After all, Uber don't need to build the self-driving cars themselves to take advantage of t…
Does this mean that ultimately this will be won by manufacturers? Volvo has a program where you can only lease certain vehicles; Tesla is thinking about on-demand rentals for vehicles, so in the longer run, the manufacturers may outmaneuver Uber? Just a thought
Re: Uber said to be negotiating sale of self-driving tech to Toyota
#6Earlier quoted context omitted.
It could be that they've realised the 'self-driving' part of 'self-driving cars' is only half the story - they'd also need to build cars. That's really hard to do at scale. Just look at the Tesla Model 3. Tesla has been making cars for more than a decade, and they're really struggling to scale up even with all that experience. After all, Uber don't need to build the self-driving cars themselves to take advantage of t…
Does this mean that ultimately this will be won by manufacturers? Volvo has a program where you can only lease certain vehicles; Tesla is thinking about on-demand rentals for vehicles, so in the longer run, the manufacturers may outmaneuver Uber? Just a thought
I doubt it. Very few people care about whether they're taking a Hitachi or a Bombardier train. Cars will probably end up going the same way; it'll be about the consumer brand rather than the manufacturer.