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A comment on Uber Hires Former Google Search Chief Amit Singhal as SVP of Engineering. Parent comment

Re:Uber Hires Former Google Search Chief Amit Singhal as SVP... by bduerst on Friday January 20, 2017 @02:24PM (#13446298)
I think Matt Levine nailed it earlier this month [1], on how Uber lost $2.2 Billion in 9 months [2]:

>Eventually there will be self-driving cars, and there's no special reason to think that Uber will be the best at building them, or that its dominant position in the ride-hailing-app space will protect it from better self-driving-car businesses.

Which also needs to factor in Uber's biggest liability: their attitude towards flouting laws and regulations. It worked okay for the ride-sharing markets, as municipal regulations are varied and slow to catch up, but they were forced to stop their self-driving car project after just a week because they didn't even get the necessary permits. [3]

[1] https://www.bloomberg.com/view/articles/2017-01-10/bank-bloc...

[2] http://www.vox.com/new-money/2017/1/9/14194202/uber-lost-22-...

[3] https://www.nytimes.com/2016/12/21/technology/san-francisco-...

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Re:Uber Hires Former Google Search Chief Amit Singhal as SVP... by fullshark on Friday January 20, 2017 @06:50PM (#13447901)
I don't think their position is safe but I'd probably bet on them or google winning that market over anyone else.
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Re:Uber Hires Former Google Search Chief Amit Singhal as SVP... by bduerst on Friday January 20, 2017 @11:09PM (#13448719)
I'd bet on Google, Tesla, and Mercedes before Uber, since they all have vehicles with more than a week on the road and cash-positive revenue streams to support further development. Uber burned through ~30% of their $11B in cash just in 2016 alone.
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Re:Uber Hires Former Google Search Chief Amit Singhal as SVP... by fullshark on Saturday January 21, 2017 @03:52PM (#13452091)
Uber will be able to get cash in the future if self driving tech matures to transition. It'll be a multi billion dollar opportunity, capital will be lining up to invest in the ride hailing market leader.
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Re:Uber Hires Former Google Search Chief Amit Singhal as SVP... by bduerst on Monday January 23, 2017 @05:31PM (#13466763)
I'm very doubtful. The financial market conditions that lead to the unicorns are drying up, and like most unicorns, their early/current investors have some extreme shareholder's agreements which make the companies very unattractive to new investors.
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Re:Uber Hires Former Google Search Chief Amit Singhal as SVP... by Daishiman on Saturday January 21, 2017 @10:38PM (#13453463)
If...
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