News for hackers. Stuff that matters.

A comment on Uber sells self-driving unit in deal that will push Aurora’s valuation to $10B. Parent comment

Re:Uber sells self-driving unit in deal that will push Auror... by israrkhan on Monday December 07, 2020 @06:34PM (#25339271)
No matter who makes the driverless cars, they will still need a network to run those cars on. I think Uber/Lyft area better off allowing thirdparty self-driving cars on their network. Waymo on other hand is trying to build its own network, but that is going to be extremely expensive proposition.
[ Parent | on HN ]
Re:Uber sells self-driving unit in deal that will push Auror... by michaelt on Monday December 07, 2020 @06:52PM (#25339441)
IMHO being the only one with self-driving car technology would be a much better moat than having 'a network'

London has Uber, Bolt, Kapten, Ola, Viavan, Hailo, Wheely, Xoox and that's just a single city - so the ride-hailing-app tech isn't a moat. A self-driving-car business doesn't need any drivers on board, so driver recruitment isn't a moat. And Google already have Google Maps on a big fraction of phones, so app installation is scarcely a moat.

Of course Google will have plenty of opportunities to shoot themselves in the feet, so it's certainly not a done deal.

[ Parent | on HN ]