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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

#81

Post by cyrux004 »

ghayes wrote: post #66
sorenjan wrote: post #57

Car companies doesn't make their own airbags, they buy them from Autoliv. They don't make their own brakes, they buy them from Brembo. They buy transmissions from ZF, tires from Michelin, ECUs from Bosch, etc. Why should car manufacturers develop their own self driving technology instead of letting others, like Bosch [1] or Veoneer [2], do that and buy it from them? Spread the investment over more cars, it makes sens…

To answer your question: presumably it's easier for a self-driving car company to offer "ride sharing" than a ride sharing company to offer self-driving cars. The power imbalance could be an existential threat to Uber or Lyft if it were realized.

Exactly, if a OEM or partner figured out how to solve self-driving; they would go to market first. I know people like to say its hard to build a market for drivers and passengers like Uber and Lyft; but if you solved self driving, then you should have a good price advantage to build a new market like Waymo is doing

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

#83

Post by tylerhou »

keyanp wrote: post #5
wmf wrote: post #3

So Uber is throwing in $6.2B in ATG equity plus $400M in cash and getting $2.6B in Aurora equity? Sounds like a massively down round.

Except, is ATG equity actually worth real money? Seems to me this is a clear attempt to get ATG off the books (16% of net loss in Q3 was due to ATG https://investor.uber.com/news-events/news/press-release-det... ). If Uber felt that ATG would actually deliver eventually, I doubt they'd be doing this deal to rid themselves of the department.

wmf was referring to last year's valuation of Uber's stake in ATG, hence "down round." Uber ATG was reportedly worth $7.5 billion April 2019 (giving Uber an ~$6 billion stake).

[https://www.businessinsider.com/uber-atg-raises-1-billion-fo...]

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

#84

Post by saagarjha »

lozaning wrote: post #35
onion2k wrote: post #28

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Uber don't need to invent self-driving themselves so long as whoever does invent self-driving cars sells them on the free market. Uber has a strong brand and loyal customers, and they could make out like bandits even if they have to buy the tech from someone else. Their real problem is if some other company perfects self-driving cars and doesn't sell them. Perhaps Uber have decided that's unlikely, either because no…

Uber has a strong network effect, but I don't think there's actually much brand loyalty.

Perhaps negative brand loyalty, to be honest.

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

#85

Post by Apocryphon »

khazhoux wrote: post #67
necubi wrote: post #17

Earlier quoted context omitted.

No, that was never the strategy, no matter how many times people on HN claimed it was. Both Uber and Lyft are aiming for profitability next year with human drivers. (Disclaimer, I work for Lyft but this has been said in public many, many times by both companies.)

One of their execs literally pitched me this very vision when I turned Uber down for an eng mgr position several years ago. I thought it was comical that his pitch was "The reason we're going to be successful at Problem 1 (taxis) is because we're going to be successful at ridiculously-difficult Problem 2 (self-driving) which we're not close to solving". Pass.

Not to mention, a ridiculously difficult problem that can't only be solved by technical breakthroughs, but also relies on legal and social advancements in order to see widespread adoption.

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

#86

Post by rvz »

mkoryak wrote: post #33

I don't understand the current state of self driving cars. First we have tesla which already has a self driving car. They were the first to build one and now everyone is playing catch up, or are they? Waymo has been building something for a really long time too but I have no idea how close they are to an actual product. Now there is this new company that gets a bunch of money to build something. It feels to me like t…

> First we have tesla which already has a self driving car.

What 'self driving car'? I think you meant 'semi-autonomous cruise control' as there is no Tesla car that is fully 'self driving'.

As for Uber's situation, they had no chance. Mounted losses everywhere caused by the pandemic, government lockdowns and drivers who are now classified as Uber employees make the costs of it all unsustainable for them to justify keeping a 'self-driving unit'.

The only certain and sustainable long term players in this 'self-driving' or 'cruise control' game are Tesla and Comma.ai.

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

#87

Post by admax88q »

oivey wrote: post #69
admax88q wrote: post #32

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Assuming that ever happens, they will likely just license it from Waymo. I don't think Waymo intends to run a full stack taxi service, easier to just sell the self driving tech itself and let other's doing the work on real world applications. Uber's competitive advantage now is their mindshare, app experience, and subsidized pricing. With or without self driving doesn't really change that.

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.

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

#90

Post by cblconfederate »

dboreham wrote: post #49
DonnyV wrote: post #25

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

Taxis have been around for thousands of years. Taxis that you get with a nice app seem like a thing that will always exist.

Why would they need Uber? There are hundreds of similar taxi apps
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