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R.I.P. Uber?

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Full self driving may not happen for another 10 years. They could be $20B + in the hole by then, and then what's their competitive advantage and barrier to entry to be able to make that money back?
 
zinfamous said:
It's certainly a huge risk, but they are playing the long game with operating fleets of self-driving cars in major metro areas around the globe. Uber hasn't ever been a fan of their human drivers and they'd like nothing more than to strike-off that line in their operating expenses.
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I don't understand and I admit I don't have great business sense.
Taking a point made in the other Uber thread that some driver had a new Subaru and the little money the driver made didn't justify the cost of operation, how does Uber make more money now by striking the cost of the driver line in expenses, then add the line cost of the new self driver car, insurance, and the extremely high cost (as I'm sure it will be) of maintenance of these new class of cars?
 
Holy crap did not even know they HAD that much money to lose. I figured Uber was basically just a phone app with maybe a few people behind it. Then again if they are going to have self driving cars they obviously have a pretty big R&D team and other dept. I just never pictured them as being that big.
 
Zstream said:
You better be right, because Uber has about 8B in the bank and they lost more than an 1/8 of it already. They cannot continue with these loses or they will become bankrupt really quick. The route data is relatively useless, as it's a high level map of driving. Self driving cars must comply with traffic, lights, signs, construction etc... We're a good 10 -15 years away from reliable automated cars in the city.
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Net loss of $1.2B doesn't mean they lost $1.2B in cash. There could be a significant portion of non-cash expenses in there.
 
zinfamous said:
Perhaps. I'm not sure that was their plan all along--but it certainly got to a point where they realized they had a ton of hardware that could be utilized for other purposes.

But spending cash to get those services rolling, on top of what was long considered the eternal money-losing service that is Prime, seem to be the primary culprits in keeping them red/even for so long. I don't think they were ever losing money in any significant amounts, just breaking even on costs for most of their years being public.
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Iirc someone said Jeff wanted something done to a certain outcome, and the way to do it was by making the entire thing an API. Once you're there the step to hosting is simple.

Or something.
 
zinfamous said:
Can any of them afford a $60-80 billion purchase right now?

...I guess Toyota or Honda could, but my first thought swung around to a US manufacturer--and I think only Ford would be near that position right now, but I doubt that?
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I don't have time to research so forgive me - but what's the forecasted revenues on this "uber-esque" service in say, 5, 10, and 25 years looking like? Spend $60B now, but if every single "uber" car was a honda... and there's how many million taxi's in the world right now...???? Could be massive pay off.
 
ElFenix said:
Iirc someone said Jeff wanted something done to a certain outcome, and the way to do it was by making the entire thing an API. Once you're there the step to hosting is simple.

Or something.
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wat?
ddint understand a word of this
 
zinfamous said:
Perhaps. I'm not sure that was their plan all along--but it certainly got to a point where they realized they had a ton of hardware that could be utilized for other purposes.

But spending cash to get those services rolling, on top of what was long considered the eternal money-losing service that is Prime, seem to be the primary culprits in keeping them red/even for so long. I don't think they were ever losing money in any significant amounts, just breaking even on costs for most of their years being public.
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Amazon also had a plan of simply continuing to spend money they made rather than reporting it as profit.
 
zinfamous said:
I think 2015 saw their first profitable quarter. Amazon and their lack of profitability has been a bit of a long-standing curiosity.
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Not really. Investors in Amazon have long known that Amazon plays the long game too. They, like automakers, sink almost all their profits into upgrading facilities, building in new locations, and expanding into new markets.
 
pcslookout said:
What is your routine when waiting for a Uber or Lyft driver? How fast are you normally ready and where do you wait ?
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Well after 5 minutes if you are not at the pin they can cancel and you will be charged a fee. They don't get paid shit (generally) so I don't want to be a dick and make them wait for me, so I'm pretty good at being on the curb by the time they arrive. I mean there's GPS so you can figure out when they'll be close...



Note, if you're paying out the ass in surge I wouldn't tip. That's just madness.
 
pcslookout said:
Those that have used Uber or Lyft how much do you tip your driver ?
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I wondered this myself, and I asked around. Some don't tip at all. Some tip a few bucks.

I was tipping nothing at all and didn't think a thing about it. I don't know what got me thinking about it. I do Uber maybe every couple of months, and the trip is always to or from the airport which is ~8 miles away.

What I've settled on depends on the driver. Some roll up, sit in the car, and pop the trunk. They get nothing. Some are way beyond helpful. They get a few bucks.
 
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