Waymo and Uber partner to bring autonomous driving technology to Uber

Post by kortilla » Tue, May 23, 2023, 8:22 PM UTC

bertil wrote: post #298

elromulous wrote: post #280

I think folks are missing the key here. If waymo offers its own app and there aren't any available vehicles when a user wants a ride, user trust is lost, and people don't bother trying it next time. With the Uber app, Uber will show both options when they're both available. It allows waymo to offer a lower SLA/SLO while still gradually fielding a service. It also allows for easier fallback if a waymo vehicle is takin…

I see the benefits from both for now, but I’m not capturing how they could agree on the long-term negotiation. There is so much upside in a few months for only one side of that deal… That was always the issue with Uber promising self-driving cars: human drivers have an unknown, uncontrollable deadline.

Post by voz_ » Tue, May 23, 2023, 8:23 PM UTC

Post by ghaff » Tue, May 23, 2023, 8:30 PM UTC

fairity wrote: post #302

wmf wrote: post #293

Earlier quoted context omitted.

No, I think the BOM cost of Waymo is higher.

By public accounts, the total hardware costs for one SDC is around $300k. If you amortize that over a 5 year lifespan & 50 rides a day, you get $3.28 of variable costs per ride. $3.28 variable cost per ride is less than what Uber is paying its drivers (median pay is ~$10.88 per ride). I imagine it nets out significantly in SDC's favor after adding back in cost of gas, insurance, and maintenance. And, the $300k should…

Post by astrange » Tue, May 23, 2023, 8:43 PM UTC

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…

Post by astrange » Tue, May 23, 2023, 8:45 PM UTC

summerlight wrote: post #317

I think this makes sense for the both. Waymo's technological advantage won't last forever. Unless they can overtake the entire automaker industry in a foreseeable future (which is extremely challenging goal even with Google's money), it's probably better to put path dependencies on your potential future customers and make it much harder to change. Uber desperately want to reduce its spend on drivers, so this also ali…