This exactly. I think eventually we could see a Kayak-like service that just compares rates for your trip against a set and books accordingly. Containing Uber/Lyft/local taxi service/etc. It's very easy to enter the market. You just need a map in a UI (mapbox) and a way to charge people (stripe/square). There's probably a decent market for transportation-service-as-a-service. $1000 gets you all setup with a custom app (configured instance of a general app).

Drivers could have something similar where they see all the opportunities and potential fares across platforms in one app. What do they need? A list box to select the fare, then a map with reasonable routing, and a pay processor.

Wish someone started a list of "Posts on HN underestimating X".

Have you considered you might be glossing over some of the complexity involved in running operations like these?

I am private beta testing an app that does exactly what is described.

It seems like there might be a difference between an app that serves a few hundred people and an app that serves hundreds of millions of people.

Don't know much about the ride share industry, but am interested and curious. Which parts of this type of app do you think would be particularly difficult to scale?

Spatially-oriented, locally-scoped applications pretty naturally shard out by region.

The way its built requires no human operational cost.

I'd be skeptical if ridesharing is possible without some human operational involvement. The most complex part is not the 99% of trips that go right, but the 1% that go wrong. The consequences of failure are more severe than say, a SaaS app not working correctly.

It's not like Uber does a good job here.

The only way Uber and Lyft will allow themselves to be relegated to a "dumb pipes" role is if they are forced to with regulation. Otherwise, zero chance of this happening.

Google Maps already has this. Well it doesn't charge you in the map, but it shows you services and gives you a price estimate.