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Waymo and Uber partner to bring autonomous driving technology to Uber

blog.waymo.com

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Re: Waymo and Uber partner to bring autonomous driving technology to Uber

#241

Post by ghaff »

kibwen wrote: post #163
nashashmi wrote: post #144

Earlier quoted context omitted.

The customer network is the hardest thing to replicate

There's no network effect from having the Uber app. All Google would need to do is push a notification to every Android phone that has Google Maps (so, all of them) that says "book your next trip through Google maps and the first ten rides are free!" and they're in business.

I mean, I use mostly Lyft in the US. And if there were another app or two that had a reputation for being cheaper or better service even if they didn't service everywhere, I'd be installing that in a minute. Brand has some value and I don't want to be installing one or more apps for every city I visit. But it mostly works when someone is as good or better for most purposes.

Re: Waymo and Uber partner to bring autonomous driving technology to Uber

#242

Post by STRiDEX »

jfoster wrote: post #221
somsak2 wrote: post #170

Earlier quoted context omitted.

with those resources, you can give me the Uber app from 2010. consumer expectations are much higher than 13 years ago and that's not going to cut it.

What's an example of something for consumers that Uber 2023 does a lot better than Uber 2010, if the drivers behave entirely cooperatively? (since we're talking autonomous vehicles here)

airport terminal maps and regulations for every major airport in the united states

Re: Waymo and Uber partner to bring autonomous driving technology to Uber

#243

Post by jfoster »

notatoad wrote: post #213
ra7 wrote: post #20

From 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 be…

i think the main goal of licencing would be less capital costs. buying cars isn't cheap, especially not at scale - licencing their tech to somebody else means every car they put on the road is $150k waymo doesn't have to spend.

Someone has to spend it, though. Uber seem in even less of a position to be footing that bill.

Re: Waymo and Uber partner to bring autonomous driving technology to Uber

#244

Post by mrguyorama »

ra7 wrote: post #188
lhorie wrote: post #172

Earlier quoted context omitted.

The backstory that seems to have been forgotten here is that self driving cars are still a money bleeding endeavor. It's why Uber sold its own self driving division and it's something Cruise has said in the past still needs to be figured out. Uber has pivoted to doing partnerships with any self driving player that is looking for a customer base. Waymo doesn't have the tech nor the desire to figure out logistics to co…

> The backstory that seems to have been forgotten here is that self driving cars are still a money bleeding endeavor. It's why Uber sold its own self driving division and it's something Cruise has said in the past still needs to be figured out. Uber sold their self driving division because they killed someone in Arizona due to negligence. And then Anthony Lewandowski happened. Those two incidents complete deflated Ub…

Did they even lose a civil suit for killing that person? They were not punished.

Re: Waymo and Uber partner to bring autonomous driving technology to Uber

#245

Post by jessriedel »

jefftk wrote: post #79
amelius wrote: post #67

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Yeah, Google could build a Taxicab button into Google Maps and completely destroy Uber. But I guess they don't want to wake up the regulatory watchdogs.

Google Maps has had this for 6y: https://www.uber.com/newsroom/googlemaps/ In the mobile app it used to be a tab at the top ("rideshare services") but now it's at the bottom of the public transit tab ("also consider"). It used to be a deep integration where you could handle your whole ride without leaving Google Maps, but I think they removed that a few years ago?

Yes, but I think amelius is suggesting that Google could put a button in Google Maps that called a Waymo (and just a Waymo). That's what could run afoul of antitrust laws.

Re: Waymo and Uber partner to bring autonomous driving technology to Uber

#246

Post by chpatrick »

xyst wrote: post #198

Yea let’s just kick people to the streets and let the “autonomous drivers” take over. Any “value” spent on humans is then gobbled up by a mega corporation. The ultra wealthy get wealthier. Will anybody please think of the shareholders!!!!1 The optics on this are totally not absolute dog shit.

On the other hand poor people who can't afford car ownership would get much more mobility and access to jobs and services if really cheap autonomous car sharing takes off.

Re: Waymo and Uber partner to bring autonomous driving technology to Uber

#247

Post by stri8ed »

morley wrote: post #74
mdale wrote: post #59

Google owns a bit over 5% of Uber at 70B and a very high percentage of waymo at 30B evaluation. (last measured) so incentive is for Waymo to succeed / grow. It seems counter intuitive to me that they do a strategic partnership with Uber given low switching cost of using another app if it had meaningful cost benefits to the consumer. Additional Google owns the Android platform so could leverage that to it's advantages…

Interesting thoughts. I was actually going to say that _Uber_ had the advantage in this deal, since it owns the customer relationship and can shape demand toward or away from Waymo. Google has a distribution channel via Android, but I don't think it's strong enough (otherwise Stadia would still be around). They'd still have to build a destination for consumers to remember, in addition to the interface, matchmaking, b…

Let's not forget Google maps, which already integrates other ride share platforms.

Re: Waymo and Uber partner to bring autonomous driving technology to Uber

#248

Post by willio58 »

riskable wrote: post #131
bartwr wrote: post #51

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Spinning up the Uber App is most likely trivial. Spinning up the legal structure, figuring out all the local regulations and getting permits (it's not 2010 anymore! Many countries and cities regulate ride sharing pretty heavily) in a sane timeline is close to impossible. And it might be not something that an Alphabet company wants to do risk/ reputation-wise. Better to offload bad press (both related to ride sharing…

> Spinning up the legal structure, figuring out all the local regulations and getting permits (it's not 2010 anymore! Many countries and cities regulate ride sharing pretty heavily) in a sane timeline is close to impossible. This is nonsense. Google has more than enough legal resources to handle this. So much so that it would be nothing more than a regular 3-6 month project that would be assigned a small team of lawy…

Google has enough resources to in theory thrive in any business they attempt. Yet, they fail in so many businesses they attempt to get into. https://killedbygoogle.com/

Re: Waymo and Uber partner to bring autonomous driving technology to Uber

#249

Post by mrshadowgoose »

sofixa wrote: post #208
mrshadowgoose wrote: post #203

Earlier quoted context omitted.

> Do you have links to those computer models? You're more than capable of doing this research yourself. > with a passenger per car the space use is still drastically less efficient Sorry, this simply isn't the metric for success. It might be your metric, but it certainly isn't the population's metric. A lot of people want to travel comfortably in cars, "mindless pursuit of space efficiency" be damned. Ubiquitous self…

How would they eliminate congestion when they're so space inefficient? Even if they're more efficient at traffic flow, there's only so much physical capacity on the roads that people want to travel on. > you're just going to have to accept that cars aren't going anywhere. Cars aren't going anywhere, but they're the wrong solution for a variety of reasons (congestion leading to time loss, pollution (including noise po…

> How would they eliminate congestion when they're so space inefficient? Even if they're more efficient at traffic flow, there's only so much physical capacity on the roads that people want to travel on.

Sure, but that's not the limiting factor at all, which you'd understand if you bothered to do the slightest bit of research outside of your comfort zone.

> And a lot don't and aren't given that option.

That's very true, but it's not one-or-the-other. I am a strong supporter for intensive funding of mass transit systems....for those who want to use them. But that doesn't preclude continued usage of cars.

> massive parking lots taking up valuable space that can be put to much better use

"better" is in the eye of beholder. Car users are generally okay with how space is currently allocated.

If you want change towards increased mass transit, I highly recommend not being hostile about it. There is no need for mass transit to be positioned as a replacement for car use. When you threaten peoples' way of life, that's how you get people actively working against you.

It should come as no surprise that I'm a huge fan of getting around by car, but I would still happily have my tax money go towards bolstering mass transit systems and walkable/cyclable infrastructure for the portion of the population that wants to commute that way.

Re: Waymo and Uber partner to bring autonomous driving technology to Uber

#250

Post by JB_Dev »

vasilipupkin wrote: post #57
bartwr wrote: post #51

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Spinning up the Uber App is most likely trivial. Spinning up the legal structure, figuring out all the local regulations and getting permits (it's not 2010 anymore! Many countries and cities regulate ride sharing pretty heavily) in a sane timeline is close to impossible. And it might be not something that an Alphabet company wants to do risk/ reputation-wise. Better to offload bad press (both related to ride sharing…

give me 3 good software developers and I can give you an Uber app maybe in 3-6 months? but what I can't give you is uber app being on every iPhone in the country.

If my ride-sharing app charges riders half the price, I think we’ll get quite a few riders in a short amount of time. Uber won’t be able to compete.
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