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Google launches Uber rival RideWith

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Re: Google launches Uber rival RideWith

#121

Post by minthd »

OscarCunningham wrote: post #95
XaspR8d wrote: post #81

Earlier quoted context omitted.

A lot of people have hypothesized that autonomous vehicles will drastically change the economics such that daily car sharing/rental will be cheaper than car ownership, and similarly convenient. This might in turn lead to a decline in car culture and personal car ownership. With a larger percentage of vehicles being owned by companies (or at least by individuals who are often loaning out their vehicle to the network),…

I suspect Apple etc. will deliberately create a rental car status competition.

We already have rental car status competition. It's called a limo service.Not very popular.

Re: Google launches Uber rival RideWith

#122

Post by lem72 »

cryptoz wrote: post #90
jnbiche wrote: post #83

Earlier quoted context omitted.

> This is Google's first toe-in-the-water for apps to request a ride, but it obviously won't be their last. What makes you think it won't be their last? Google frequently puts their toes in the water and then decides it's too cold to swim. It's like, their modus operandi.

I think it's pretty clear that this won't be their last effort in this area. In this case, you can take the very-close-proximity efforts by them - self driving cars - that they are taking very seriously, and extend that expectation here. Does it really make sense that Google would build self-driving cars without also thinking about ride sharing technology and userbase? I think the primary use case of Google's cars wi…

I agree, ride sharing with self driving cars is going to be pretty normal in the near future.

What will be cool is once they are self driving, they will be able to auto calculate quickest routes to pick people up, drop off, etc while being able to re-calculate to pick up people along the way.

Re: Google launches Uber rival RideWith

#123

Post by dsfyu404ed »

OscarCunningham wrote: post #98
ForHackernews wrote: post #79

Earlier quoted context omitted.

What model of car was the last taxi you took? Did you pick that taxi because of its stylish design? In contrast, were you impressed that the driver knew a shortcut to avoid traffic by getting off one exit early and going through a parking garage?

Actually, I am surprised by how nice taxis are. I never find myself in an "old" taxi. But perhaps it's just that the heavy use wears the engine out before the exterior loses its shine.

Generally the interior is the first thing to get trashed.

Re: Google launches Uber rival RideWith

#124

Post by shostack »

duaneb wrote: post #117
IgorPartola wrote: post #116

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Why does Google want it? It's simple. Google is an advertising company. The more free time you have where you have nothing but your phone or computer, the more time you'll spend searching for things, and therefore clicking on their ads. An average person with a 30+ minute commute would sure as hell do a lot of shopping if they didn't have to drive. While we are all waiting on self-driving cars, this is another step i…

Why do people talk about Google being an advertising company when, while it's a significant fraction of current revenue, it's also only a small portion of their interests and investments.

Because right now they are an advertising company as their other investments are not significant revenue drivers, or are meant to provide additional audience data for advertising.

Re: Google launches Uber rival RideWith

#125

Post by cujo »

duaneb wrote: post #117
IgorPartola wrote: post #116

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Why does Google want it? It's simple. Google is an advertising company. The more free time you have where you have nothing but your phone or computer, the more time you'll spend searching for things, and therefore clicking on their ads. An average person with a 30+ minute commute would sure as hell do a lot of shopping if they didn't have to drive. While we are all waiting on self-driving cars, this is another step i…

Why do people talk about Google being an advertising company when, while it's a significant fraction of current revenue, it's also only a small portion of their interests and investments.

> while it's a significant fraction of current revenue

That's why. They aren't doing anything out of the goodness of their hearts. If there's no money involved, at least tangentially, it's not something they are going to do.

Re: Google launches Uber rival RideWith

#126

Post by shostack »

minthd wrote: post #17
abluecloud wrote: post #2

> Drivers will only be able to make two trips per day, and the software will ensure they only travel from their home neighborhoods to their workplaces. > There also won’t be a ton of money changing hands as a passenger will pay the driver only a nominal fare for the trip I'd hardly call it a Uber rival

UBER plans to attack the "drive to work" segment of the transportation market, and it's potentially a huge opportunity for UBER.This Google service, if successful, might fill that role very well. And the fact that it's cheaper is basically "disruption from below" - a proven strategy in many businesses. While this exact transport service model generally failed , it did succeed in France(blabla car), and Google has uni…

Yep, a big factor to consider here is that while Uber has a head start, Google has a massive chest derived from other products and political clout to deal with the regulatory piece.

They can absolutely price Uber and others out of the market on this if they felt like it.

Re: Google launches Uber rival RideWith

#127

Post by shostack »

LordKano wrote: post #115

Who's going to trust this? Google is so quick to terminate technologies that I'm hesitant to try anything new that they bring to market.

May I ask why you need to trust this from that standpoint? With other Google services I agree with the concern. In this case, if they discontinued, you revert to your old way of commuting. I don't imagine anyone doing anything stupid like selling their car over this.

It's like Shopping Express for me. Was AMAZING while it was free and I used it every week. Now I don't because the fee is in place. Since Amazon pantry is not a good fit for my needs either, I just do things like in ancient times and pick things up at the grocery store while I'm out running errands and spend a few more minutes.

Re: Google launches Uber rival RideWith

#128

Post by hackuser »

dylanjermiah wrote: post #68
frozenport wrote: post #65

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Uber: fuck the law

When the laws hurt consumers and protected the taxi cartel, I, and 2 million plus people per day welcome the destruction of such backwards laws.

Is Uber any better? They are their own cartel, much more powerful than taxi drivers.

https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=9771551

Re: Google launches Uber rival RideWith

#129

Post by shostack »

salimmadjd wrote: post #34

When google announced Uber integration in their maps, I called it a trojan horse [1] Basically making maps the interface for ride sharing and then adding their own service on top. [1] https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=7705706

Genius and ruthless business move on their part if that was indeed the case.

Re: Google launches Uber rival RideWith

#130

Post by philsnow »

ChuckMcM wrote: post #119
abluecloud wrote: post #2

> Drivers will only be able to make two trips per day, and the software will ensure they only travel from their home neighborhoods to their workplaces. > There also won’t be a ton of money changing hands as a passenger will pay the driver only a nominal fare for the trip I'd hardly call it a Uber rival

I keep seeing a bunch of Google Express vans sitting around idle because they don't have any goods to deliver, this sort of thing could easily capture a bit of revenue from those idle vehicles. It was the first thing I thought of when I saw that Uber was doing deliveries.

How do you weigh 8 hours of idle time vs 8 hours of driving time in the long term ownership cost of one of those vans, though?
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