171–180 of 203 posts
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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?
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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.
I think lots of times it might save more than that, I picked a low number because I expect even modest savings will convince people to do it, especially if the impact on convenience is small.
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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.
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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.
I'd trust software to drive me to my destination safely and responsibly much more than I would trust random strangers, or even myself for that matter.
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You are, of course, correct, but is that a distinction that matters?
I think it definitely does. Google Ventures has expressed in the past that their investments are not tied to any business plans of Google and function entirely separately.
They clearly invested in Uber because Google wanted to buy them and clearly Uber has said no. So plan B.
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.
For one, dynamic routing for two or more people is always going to hurt the user experience. Imagine you're running late and your car re-routes to pick up another passenger - ugh!
Shared transportation for anything more than a neighbourhood trip should be professionally driven and to a schedule. That schedule can be dynamic as anything but must be solid and offer guarantees BEFORE the trip starts as to start point, route, etc.
Basically a very smart and discoverable bus.
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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
At least from personal experience they've been 3x cheaper and arrived 10x faster than the taxi alternative.
Uber is not lobbying to remove competition and maintain a bad product and high prices. They're lobbying so the backwards laws can be removed. The opposite of what the taxi cartel is doing.
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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.
Just wait until some billion-dollar funded company decides to ignore all normal business rules, in your particular market of interest. I'm curious what your response will be then.
I would never do that, I welcome competition.