Uber takes its self-driving cars off the road after one flipped over in Arizona

Re:Uber takes its self-driving cars off the road after one f... by Mtinie on Sunday March 26, 2017 @02:30PM (#13962266)

What still isn't clear to me is why Uber is involved in the development of self-driving cars, vs. profiteering and duplicating once the first viable examples have been released.

On the surface autonomous vehicles appear to be a long-term capital draining exercise. Do they view the first mover advantage as that beneficial in this case that they'd risk all their future growth to be first to market for something that they could, conceivably, get a better ROI for being "second" to market with a more durable option?

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Re:Uber takes its self-driving cars off the road after one f... by dbot on Sunday March 26, 2017 @02:46PM (#13962363)

Uber reached its current success with a first mover advantage.

But I think the real reason is that everyone building self-driving cars today - including the big car manufacturers - will have little interest in selling to Uber. They will be running their own Uber-style Car-as-a-Service.

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Re:Uber takes its self-driving cars off the road after one f... by mrkgnao on Sunday March 26, 2017 @02:58PM (#13962437)

IOW, Tesla will be to Uber as Uber wants to be to its drivers.

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