old enemies coming together, they must be out of options https://techcrunch.com/2019/08/27/anthony-levandowski-former...
Literally the only way out for Uber if they aren't to be a glorified taxi app.
Waymo and Uber partner to bring autonomous driving technology to Uber
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Re: Waymo and Uber partner to bring autonomous driving technology to Uber
#12Shame Uber and to kill someone before just licensing the tech.
Re: Waymo and Uber partner to bring autonomous driving technology to Uber
#13If I can't bike or bus it, taxis paid with cash is still my first preference.
Thanks for letting us all know.
Re: Waymo and Uber partner to bring autonomous driving technology to Uber
#14I guess Uber gave up on their own autonomous vehicles. Interesting that it seems like Waymo who took the most cautious approach seems to be the last real contender standing.
Re: Waymo and Uber partner to bring autonomous driving technology to Uber
#15Earlier quoted context omitted.
Alphabet has a large stake in Uber. They don’t need to own it outright to realize huge returns.
Sure, but there's massive advantages to bringing it in house. The only reason I could see for them not doing it is that as autonomous vehicles are deployed widely there's going to be a massive backlash from current uber drivers and strategically it might be good for Alphabet to be able to use Uber as a heat shield.
Uber have always wanting to go autonomous cars. They poured a lot of money to try to develop them in-house and I think that they were too optimistic on how easy and quick that would be.
But if/when fully autonomous vehicles become a reality they will shed their drivers, same as everyone else.
Re: Waymo and Uber partner to bring autonomous driving technology to Uber
#16If I can't bike or bus it, taxis paid with cash is still my first preference.
Can you get a taxi to show up? The last two times I tried to rebel against the rideshare duopoly was the morning before international flights. Trips to the airport are the only use case I have for rideshare. Both times I scheduled the pick up by calling the phone number the day before, both times the driver just… didn’t show up. I panicked and downloaded Lyft.
I know some taxi companies have apps now, but if I’m going that route, I don’t see the point of not using Lyft.
Re: Waymo and Uber partner to bring autonomous driving technology to Uber
#17This is fascinating, obviously it makes a tonne of sense for uber as a platform to offer waymo's autonomous vehicles. The first question I had though was "who extracts value here". Does Waymo get to demand human-driver level prices and therefore capture loads of value or does Uber actually capture the value because they're where the customers are. But then I realised... it doesn't matter. Waymo is part of Alphabet, a…
> The first question I had though was "who extracts value here".
Uber can't be profitable without autonomous vehicles, so the answer IMHO here is simple.
For Alphabet, the answer is similarly simple - they'll partner with literally anyone to get distribution.
Re: Waymo and Uber partner to bring autonomous driving technology to Uber
#18This is fascinating, obviously it makes a tonne of sense for uber as a platform to offer waymo's autonomous vehicles. The first question I had though was "who extracts value here". Does Waymo get to demand human-driver level prices and therefore capture loads of value or does Uber actually capture the value because they're where the customers are. But then I realised... it doesn't matter. Waymo is part of Alphabet, a…
Alphabet has a large stake in Uber. They don’t need to own it outright to realize huge returns.
How much of Uber does Alphabet own? They do not show up in the top 10 list here, so presumably 1% at most?
https://money.cnn.com/quote/quote.html?symb=UBER
https://finance.yahoo.com/quote/uber/holders/
Seems like pocket change compared to Alphabet’s other investments.
Re: Waymo and Uber partner to bring autonomous driving technology to Uber
#19If I can't bike or bus it, taxis paid with cash is still my first preference.
Can you get a taxi to show up? The last two times I tried to rebel against the rideshare duopoly was the morning before international flights. Trips to the airport are the only use case I have for rideshare. Both times I scheduled the pick up by calling the phone number the day before, both times the driver just… didn’t show up. I panicked and downloaded Lyft. I know some taxi companies have apps now, but if I’m goin…
Yeah taxi dispatch is hit and miss. They might be in NYC somewhere where it's possible to flag down a cab.
Re: Waymo and Uber partner to bring autonomous driving technology to Uber
#20From the TechCrunch news story [1]:
> The collaboration with Uber gives Waymo’s self-driving technology a second path to commercialization. As Katherine Barna, head of PR at Waymo, told TechCrunch, Waymo is “building a Driver, not a vehicle.” That “driver-as-a-service” model is similarly how Waymo intends to commercialize autonomous trucks, and it means that the company can lease out its AV technology, rather than being the owner-operator of that technology.
Waymo wants to be both owner-operator of their vehicles for their Waymo One taxi service and be a “technology provider” for other ridehail companies. I wonder if the latter is a more lucrative business model. Less operational costs due to someone else running the service, ability pass on liability to them and they can just develop/maintain the tech.
[1] https://techcrunch.com/2023/05/23/waymos-self-driving-cars-w...