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Uber sells self-driving unit in deal that will push Aurora’s valuation to $10B

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Re: Uber sells self-driving unit in deal that will push Aurora’s valuation to $10B

#141

Post by jeltz »

pmiller2 wrote: post #63
jeromegv wrote: post #41

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Everytime someone mentioned that idea I thought it made no sense. The Uber strategy is to delegate all the cost to a 3rd party (the driver and their own car). The idea of spending billions of dollar on hundreds of thousands of cars around the world and maintain them hardly seemed like what they were setup to do. They wanted the exact opposite. Externalize all cost, labor, material, etc. and just develop a software th…

How do drivers make any money while keeping the overall price less than a taxi? Factor in fuel and maintenance, and drivers are already getting pretty screwed on these platforms.

They don't. Which is why Ubers cost only slightly less than normal taxis in markets like Sweden where Uber has to follow the same regulations as their competitors. The low prices they have in markets like the US are not sustainable.

Re: Uber sells self-driving unit in deal that will push Aurora’s valuation to $10B

#142

Post by israrkhan »

thesimon wrote: post #6

Wasn't Uber's whole money losing strategy based on the vision that one day they'll use their self-driving cars to get the driving done for cheaper?

No matter who makes the driverless cars, they will still need a network to run those cars on. I think Uber/Lyft area better off allowing thirdparty self-driving cars on their network. Waymo on other hand is trying to build its own network, but that is going to be extremely expensive proposition.

Re: Uber sells self-driving unit in deal that will push Aurora’s valuation to $10B

#144

Post by beerandt »

thesimon wrote: post #6

Wasn't Uber's whole money losing strategy based on the vision that one day they'll use their self-driving cars to get the driving done for cheaper?

You don't need to own the tech to use it, anymore than they would need to be manufacturing the cars they're using.

OR: they finally accepted the fact that self-driving cars aren't realistically happening anytime soon, at least to the level needed to entirely eliminate the driver cost.

That, and they probably realize they have enough market share at this point to be able to (long-term) raise prices instead of lower expenses.

Re: Uber sells self-driving unit in deal that will push Aurora’s valuation to $10B

#145

Post by majani »

DonnyV wrote: post #25

I'd be shocked if Uber is around in the next 5 years.

Once you go public, you become 5x harder to kill than your average company, and US investors have shown am increased appetite to fund unprofitable companies in the last few decades, so Uber will be around for a while

Re: Uber sells self-driving unit in deal that will push Aurora’s valuation to $10B

#146

Post by somethoughts »

asdff wrote: post #54
paxys wrote: post #12

Earlier quoted context omitted.

That claim was infinitely repeated on internet message boards but never acknowledged by the company or taken seriously in the industry or by investors. That entire division was an expensive moonshot. Uber's core strategy and valuation have always been rooted in being a taxi company with human drivers.

So whats the big plan to lower overhead on rides? I looked up their last quarter and it was billions lost yet again. This doesn't seem sustainable, just shoveling money into the furnace quarter after quarter like that.

The big plan is a war of attrition to capture a monopoly/duopoly status for taxi services within a given country. Acquire all competing taxi companies or price them out of business.Once that is done, raise prices. If competition arises, lower prices again until they go away. In some senses, its just like Amazon.

Re: Uber sells self-driving unit in deal that will push Aurora’s valuation to $10B

#147

Post by bagacrap »

admax88q wrote: post #87
oivey wrote: post #69

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Maybe. The amount of work to make a taxi service is much, much smaller than that to make a self driving car. I could see Waymo entering lots of industries like that to capture easy profits.

I dunno, the profits are easier and risks lower to just license the tech. Sticking to your core copmentency so to speak.

when has Google been known to do that?

Re: Uber sells self-driving unit in deal that will push Aurora’s valuation to $10B

#148

Post by paxys »

asdff wrote: post #54
paxys wrote: post #12

Earlier quoted context omitted.

That claim was infinitely repeated on internet message boards but never acknowledged by the company or taken seriously in the industry or by investors. That entire division was an expensive moonshot. Uber's core strategy and valuation have always been rooted in being a taxi company with human drivers.

So whats the big plan to lower overhead on rides? I looked up their last quarter and it was billions lost yet again. This doesn't seem sustainable, just shoveling money into the furnace quarter after quarter like that.

Selling or shutting underperforming divisions (like ATG, air taxi), reduced competition in the space as players consolidate, higher prices, cutting expansion/marketing costs.

Re: Uber sells self-driving unit in deal that will push Aurora’s valuation to $10B

#149

Post by cmsj »

necubi wrote: post #55
aardvarkr wrote: post #45

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Yeah the more I look the more I find proof that self-driving cars has been seen as an existential threat by Uber/Lyft for years and years with Travis Kalanick (ex-CEO) saying it repeatedly. Here's an interview from him on exactly this topic. https://www.businessinsider.com/travis-kalanick-interview-on...

If there are competitors (e.g., Waymo) that have self-driving that's significantly cheaper, then Uber and Lyft can't compete. So it's a huge potential threat to their businesses. And if self-driving makes rides much cheaper, that can significantly boost the size of the market. But that does not imply that they can't be successful and profitable businesses in a world without self-driving cars, which is the frequently-…

Realistically though it's about as much of an actual threat as teleporters are.
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