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Google launches Uber rival RideWith

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Re: Google launches Uber rival RideWith

#161

Post by duaneb »

cujo wrote: post #125
duaneb wrote: post #117

Earlier quoted context omitted.

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.

Yea, but it's not like they are dedicated to making money advertising. They're dedicated to making money, period, and advertising is just the current mechanism.

Re: Google launches Uber rival RideWith

#162

Post by duaneb »

CamperBob2 wrote: post #159
arebop wrote: post #141

Earlier quoted context omitted.

The first time you hear it, it sounds surprising. Then someone explains about revenue and it makes sense. So then you want to share the cleverness. Of course, it's actually a pretty shallow analysis, unsupported by the company's history and inconsistent with some of the company's current behavior. How useful is it really to consider Google as being in the same equivalence class as TBWA\CHIAT\DAY? Well never mind, the…

OK, Google is an ad company with a lot of hobbies. Better?

How about Google is a tech company that happens to sell ads. Better?

Re: Google launches Uber rival RideWith

#163

Post by ruacartoon »

ForHackernews wrote: post #79
OscarCunningham wrote: post #74

Earlier quoted context omitted.

>i suspect in general ,that self-driving cars and especially taxis would push the car market to derive much less value from branding and marketing and much more value from hardcore technology with design being much less a differentiator than today Why?

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?

Last taxi I took was an UberBlack Mercedes Benz. I paid extra because I prefer riding in a new and comfortable car to riding in a five year old Honda.

Just as the Mandarin Oriental doesn't compete with Motel 6, there will still be markets for a wide variety of cars at a wide variety of price points.

Re: Google launches Uber rival RideWith

#164

Post by mjmahone17 »

ikeboy wrote: post #145
jellicle wrote: post #136

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Google knows where every Android user and most of everyone else lives and works. Frankly it would be trivial to ask Android users a question: "Are you interested in carpooling? [Y/N]" and then prompt them when the guy three doors down also answers yes.

We both know they'd be (rightly) yelled at by all of us if they did that. Waze, fine. By using the app, you agree they might monetize it, or whatever. But pushing ads to stock android is a huge no-no.

Eh, but it would work inside Google Maps/Waze. Some people I know use Google Maps or Waze every day, despite knowing what the best way to get to work is. This means Google likely already has the "driver" supply, and just needs to find a good way to provide those drivers with appropriate passengers.

So when someone first opens Waze/GM, you could put up a notification: "Dakota Doe is 2 minutes away and is also trying to go to X. Would you like to carpool them?" People who say yes get pushed it more and more often, people who say no get a screen the next time they open the app expounding on the benefits of carpooling.

Re: Google launches Uber rival RideWith

#165

Post by prawn »

jnbiche wrote: post #83
onion2k wrote: post #19

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I wouldn't have called Uber a "taxi rival" when they were an app for hiring a town car either. Things change. This is Google's first toe-in-the-water for apps to request a ride, but it obviously won't be their last. Considering how much they've invested in autonomous vehicles only a crazy person would believe they're going to leave the entire market for self-driving taxis wide open for Uber etc. Google will have a ta…

> 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.

This market is too big and has millions of customers proving their willingness to pay for taxi-style services or public transport every day.

Re: Google launches Uber rival RideWith

#166

Post by prawn »

ikeboy wrote: post #145
jellicle wrote: post #136

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Google knows where every Android user and most of everyone else lives and works. Frankly it would be trivial to ask Android users a question: "Are you interested in carpooling? [Y/N]" and then prompt them when the guy three doors down also answers yes.

We both know they'd be (rightly) yelled at by all of us if they did that. Waze, fine. By using the app, you agree they might monetize it, or whatever. But pushing ads to stock android is a huge no-no.

And what if they add a button to Google Maps that showed a shared car? And tapping it started the on-boarding for a ride-sharing service. Completely opt-in.

Re: Google launches Uber rival RideWith

#167

Post by icebraining »

chinathrow wrote: post #154
dataker wrote: post #33

Earlier quoted context omitted.

With Google's amount of data, 2 trips will 'force' drivers to restrict input to commuting habits and have more insights on it. Google still holds 5% of Uber. For commuting, I'd call it Uber's abandonment and Lyft's death.

> Google still holds 5% of Uber. Is that public knowledge?

I don't know if the exact percentage is publicly known, but that Google Ventures invested $258M into Uber certainly is: http://techcrunch.com/2013/08/22/google-ventures-puts-258m-i...

Re: Google launches Uber rival RideWith

#168

Post by sib »

seanp2k2 wrote: post #108
taigeair wrote: post #99

My prediction number 5 :) 5. New functionality - e.g. If you're going somewhere while using Google Maps for navigation and turn on "Carpool" mode, people can see your path and message you for a pick up. They pay you for partial journey via the app. http://www.quora.com/How-will-Google-monetize-Google-Maps

I still want the ability to add a destination en route to another destination, e.g. "Ooh, I need to find [cheap] gas on the way to my next errand". It'd also be nice to be able to plan out e.g. "I need to go 4 places, figure out when they all close and what the optimal route is between them all". These are currently very manual and pretty tedious.

Waze enables this (add a destination en route to another destination) pretty seamlessly for a single additional point. They don't really do multipoint trip optimization afaik.

Re: Google launches Uber rival RideWith

#169

Post by bl4ckm0r3 »

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

The legal implications of this approach (compared to uber's) are way easier to deal with. They are not trying to fix taxis, they are trying to fix car-pooling.

Re: Google launches Uber rival RideWith

#170

Post by aetherson »

lem72 wrote: post #122
cryptoz wrote: post #90

Earlier quoted context omitted.

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.

Vast segments of the population (that is to say: probably 90%+ of women and 40%+ of men) are going to be deeply uncomfortable with getting into an automobile in the company of exactly one totally random stranger. Even if there are cameras.
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