Quote:
Originally Posted by Subfallen
What do you think about this...
Mikhel's link above claims that Uber just put their first test car on the road. How far behind are they? Google's first public test car came out
four years ago. Uber are so far behind it's ridiculous.
http://www.macworld.com/article/2925...est-drive.html
Bill Gates seems to say a lot of stupid stuff. Uber is way, way behind. They wanted to buy Nokia's HERE mapping (the best in the world) but lacked the money; instead
it was bought recently by a conglomerate of car makers with hundreds of billions in assets.
Meanwhile, Apple (with $200 billion cash on the books), has been going on a hiring spree hiring the best in autonomous vehicle research.
You think Uber with its 2 billion in startup capital - most of which it needs for operating expenses - and starting many years behind, is going to get there first? That's just a ridiculous notion, frankly.
Even if they solve it first - at best they would beat others by six months - they still have to
make the ****ing car with sufficient volume and capital outlay to start making inroads on human transport. That's $100 billion in investment right there (look at the books of car makers, for example). Then they have to set up the infrastructure in every city to support it (charging, parking, maintenance and cleaning) vs someone like Avis with infrastructure already, all over the world, who simply has to buy the cars. You think they are going to do it, rather than car makers? Or Apple? Or large fleets?
The whole thing is so ****ing absurd. Starting a tiny autonomous vehicle research unit is probably worth it just for the extra money they will get from the buzz that idiots and investors will buy into. I wouldn't be surprised if that's why they're doing it.
Last edited by ToothSayer; 10-15-2015 at 06:51 PM.