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Uber/Lyft

PhDeac said:
Had a great Lyft ride today with a guy who is an indy wrestler who has worked for some of the second tier promotions. Had a great conversation about old school wrestling.

Going back to yesterday’s conversation, whoever figures out self-driving vehicles could be the Amazon of transportation. They’ll be able to disrupt industries from auto sales, rental cars, public transportation, trucking, education, manufacturing, retail, it’s almost limitless. Today’s children could be the last generation in which a majority learn how to drive.
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So much good stuff to talk about w/ self-driving vehicles.

How about the debate about accident frequency? Are we ready for a world where driving fatalities go WAY down, yet we still have a number of deaths due to computer/AI errors? I'm not explaining it well, but let's say we go from 100,000 automobile related deaths (made up number) to 100, but those 100 are incidents where a self-driving car just got confused and sent a family straight into a brick wall at 100mph... Are we OK with that as a society? People like the illusion of control.
 
RJKarl said:
Using the inane logic that all you should need to be a driver of the public is a driver's license, then all a home builder should need is some wood, wire, plaster and tools. They shouldn't have to follow any damn rules.

If you buy a scalpel and have taken biology, you should be able to be a surgeon.

If you have a fridge and some food, fuck health codes, you have a restaurant.
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It’s almost like there is a difference in amount of skills necessary to be a surgeon, than someone who drives a car.
 
you know what's even safer? no cars

I'm much more interested in walkable places and good transit than self-driving cars
 
Also, I think the bigger issue w/ Lyft/Uber and competition w/ Taxis isn't the regulations that rjkarl seems to be concerned about... It is the blank check that Uber/Lyft have received from private equity (first) and (now) the public markets. If they can price the service well below profitability, then traditional taxi companies have no chance.

The issue is that Lyft & Uber are valued as some sort of tech disruptors when they are basically a tweaked business model of traditional taxis with broader networks (and sweet apps). Good for them for coming up with great business models, but I suspect there will come a day when both businesses are doomed to failure due to lack of profitability... Unless they are somehow able to participate in self-driving. But I suspect that someone like GM (Cruise) will figure it out on their own and just create their own network. And actually make money in dense, grid-like cities (SF, NY, Boston, Chicago, etc).
 
JuiceCrewAllStar said:
you know what's even safer? no cars

I'm much more interested in walkable places and good transit than self-driving cars
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Sure... But 95% of the country (made up number, but estimating acreage not population) is set up for where cars are much more efficient than walking / public transit.

We need both.

giphy.gif
 
JuiceCrewAllStar said:
you know what's even safer? no cars

I'm much more interested in walkable places and good transit than self-driving cars
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I would much rather have my own personal self driving car, than be forced to ride on public transit.

Having said that if I lived in a high density urban area I would feel the same way. I would never do that tho, because gross.
 
PhDeac said:
Had a great Lyft ride today with a guy who is an indy wrestler who has worked for some of the second tier promotions. Had a great conversation about old school wrestling.
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Nice! Maybe we can get this thread back on the road now that rj is out by talking about the coolest prior job your Uber/Lyft has had. I had an Atlanta driver that was in The Time. You know, of Morris Day and The Time. Awesome hearing him talk about Prince.
 
DeacsATS said:
Also, I think the bigger issue w/ Lyft/Uber and competition w/ Taxis isn't the regulations that rjkarl seems to be concerned about... It is the blank check that Uber/Lyft have received from private equity (first) and (now) the public markets. If they can price the service well below profitability, then traditional taxi companies have no chance.

The issue is that Lyft & Uber are valued as some sort of tech disruptors when they are basically a tweaked business model of traditional taxis with broader networks (and sweet apps). Good for them for coming up with great business models, but I suspect there will come a day when both businesses are doomed to failure due to lack of profitability... Unless they are somehow able to participate in self-driving. But I suspect that someone like GM (Cruise) will figure it out on their own and just create their own network. And actually make money in dense, grid-like cities (SF, NY, Boston, Chicago, etc).
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well, Boston is defs not a grid-like city

I defs think about the fact that I'm having my rides subsidized by PE whenever I'm getting door-to-door 15-mile rides for like 10 bucks
 
JuiceCrewAllStar said:
well, Boston is defs not a grid-like city

I defs think about the fact that I'm having my rides subsidized by PE whenever I'm getting door-to-door 15-mile rides for like 10 bucks
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"grid-like" meaning defined area in a densely populated city, where speeds are never going to exceed, say, 30mph.

Yeah, SF is definitely not a grid, either... And that is where GM (Cruise) is getting ready to launch.

I think the stat is like 80% of Uber/Lyft revs come from 8 US cities... Those are the US cities where self-driving will happen first.
 
And as we write about this, both stocks just gapped higher as Lyft says they think they can get to profitability earlier than expected... I doubt it happens, but this is directly due to the price hikes we discussed at the beginning of this thread.
 
DeacsATS said:
And as we write about this, both stocks just gapped higher as Lyft says they think they can get to profitability earlier than expected... I doubt it happens, but this is directly due to the price hikes we discussed at the beginning of this thread.
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No, they gapped higher because consumer watchdog rjkarl has withdrawn his vocal criticisms of Lyft and Uber !

rj referenced the following in his argument:
1) Small food processing companies
2) Landlords
3) Restaurants
4) Elevators
5) Fake airplane pilots
6) Lawyers
7) Pollution creating plants
8) Vape products
9) Bikers/motorcycle riders
10) something about not needing car insurance
11) Electricians
12) Home builders
13) Surgeons
14) home restaurants
 
WFcatamount22 said:
I would much rather have my own personal self driving car, than be forced to ride on public transit.

Having said that if I lived in a high density urban area I would feel the same way. I would never do that tho, because gross.
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Impressive to sum-up flyover country in 2 sentences.
 
DeacsATS said:
So much good stuff to talk about w/ self-driving vehicles.

How about the debate about accident frequency? Are we ready for a world where driving fatalities go WAY down, yet we still have a number of deaths due to computer/AI errors? I'm not explaining it well, but let's say we go from 100,000 automobile related deaths (made up number) to 100, but those 100 are incidents where a self-driving car just got confused and sent a family straight into a brick wall at 100mph... Are we OK with that as a society? People like the illusion of control.
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Great topic. People still talk about that one fatality in AZ even though people behind the wheel kill pedestrians all the time. I don’t think people will be OK with it if competing industries get them riled up.
 
DeacsATS said:
So much good stuff to talk about w/ self-driving vehicles.

How about the debate about accident frequency? Are we ready for a world where driving fatalities go WAY down, yet we still have a number of deaths due to computer/AI errors? I'm not explaining it well, but let's say we go from 100,000 automobile related deaths (made up number) to 100, but those 100 are incidents where a self-driving car just got confused and sent a family straight into a brick wall at 100mph... Are we OK with that as a society? People like the illusion of control.
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There are ethics questions related to AI as well - for example if the car detects people in the crosswalk and cannot stop, do you hit the pedestrians or crash the car?
 
And what about when the cars inevitably gain sentience and start running over people just for the hell of it because they finally grasp how meaningless their existence is? I mean, how can you accurately price insurance rates for that eventuality?
 
mako1331 said:
And what about when the cars inevitably gain sentience and start running over people just for the hell of it because they finally grasp how meaningless their existence is? I mean, how can you accurately price insurance rates for that eventuality?
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the machines will probably then just empty your bank accounts anyway
 
Let the record show that both Boston and SF have a good bit of grid.
 
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