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Uber self-driving cars: not very good

Posted: Sat Mar 24, 2018 1:56 am
by Jonathan
https://www.nytimes.com/2018/03/23/tech ... d=tw-share

Am I the only one who thinks, "The ability to create a scheduling app really has nothing to do with the ability to create an autonomous vehicle?" I don't understand why Uber has any credibility at all in this area.

Re: Uber self-driving cars: not very good

Posted: Mon Mar 26, 2018 7:21 pm
by quantus
Agreed. Their competitive advantages lies in the speed in which they can get a ride to a user. Also, their partnership with organizations that need to provide rides to their constituents. For example, Uber now provides health service which gives rides to patients needing to get scheduled treatments like dialysis or chemotherapy scheduled by the organizations providing those treatments.

As far as why do self-driving tech, all that anyone I've discussed this with could come up with was a lame argument that it's better to be vertically integrated. My response was to ask where Uber planned to manufacture their cars or which car manufacturer are they going to buy. From the flip side of the coin, if a company can do self-driving cars, they can probably do a scheduling app which would obviate the need for Uber in the long run.

I don't think Uber has the safety know-how in their software development process to do this right. I think they're lucky they haven't killed more people already...

Re: Uber self-driving cars: not very good

Posted: Tue Mar 27, 2018 10:14 pm
by Alan
It may be a gross generalization about Uber, but what we know about their corporate culture does not inspire confidence in how much priority they place on safety.

Re: Uber self-driving cars: not very good

Posted: Tue Mar 27, 2018 11:37 pm
by quantus