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The Prickly Partnership Between Uber and Google
HughPickens.com writes Google, with billions of dollars in the bank and house-by-house maps of most of the planet, seemed like the perfect partner for Uber, the hugely popular ride-hailing service. But Mike Isaac writes in the NYT that just two years after Google's venture capital arm poured more than $250 million into Uber there are signs that the companies are more likely to be ferocious competitors than allies. Uber recently announced plans to develop self-driving cars, a longtime pet project at Google. Travis Kalanick, Uber's CEO, has publicly discussed what he sees as the inevitability of autonomous taxis, saying they could offer cheaper rides and a true alternative to vehicle ownership. "The Uber experience is expensive because it's not just the car but the other dude in the car," Kalanick said at a technology conference in 2014, referring to the expense of paying human drivers. "When there's no other dude in the car, the cost [of taking an Uber] gets cheaper than owning a vehicle." Uber is also adding engineers who are experts on mapping technology. And the company, based in San Francisco, has been in talks with Google's advertising archrival, Facebook, to find ways to work together.
Not to be outdone, Google has been experimenting with a ride-sharing app similar to Uber's and both companies have long toyed with the idea of offering same-day delivery of items like groceries and other staples. Last month Google announced it would start presenting data from third party applications inside Google Now, a service that displays useful information prominently on the screen of Android smartphones. Google said it had struck deals to draw data from such apps as Pandora, AirBnb, Zillow, and the ride-sharing service Lyft. The company most obviously missing from that list? Google's old and possibly former friend, Uber. According to Isaac, for young companies, even one as well funded as Uber, dancing with giants is a part of doing business — even if there is always a risk of getting squashed. "There are some hard lessons about the dangers of cooperation that are strongly in the memories of these companies," says John Morgan. "Something that makes partnering harder, even when it might make economic sense to do so."
Not to be outdone, Google has been experimenting with a ride-sharing app similar to Uber's and both companies have long toyed with the idea of offering same-day delivery of items like groceries and other staples. Last month Google announced it would start presenting data from third party applications inside Google Now, a service that displays useful information prominently on the screen of Android smartphones. Google said it had struck deals to draw data from such apps as Pandora, AirBnb, Zillow, and the ride-sharing service Lyft. The company most obviously missing from that list? Google's old and possibly former friend, Uber. According to Isaac, for young companies, even one as well funded as Uber, dancing with giants is a part of doing business — even if there is always a risk of getting squashed. "There are some hard lessons about the dangers of cooperation that are strongly in the memories of these companies," says John Morgan. "Something that makes partnering harder, even when it might make economic sense to do so."
I'm not fond of Uber (not an user, and read some horror stories about raping, etc).
I'm also a Google fan.
But this story reminds me of M$ eating up smaller fish who thought it is safe to partner up with the shark.
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Technically, I think you'd be able to steal it without ever being near it. And this has been true all along.
And suddenly I'm picturing self-driving cars put into Mayhem Mode where you plow them through crowds or buildings.
Suddenly Google's self driving cars become WMDs.
It sounds far fetched, but if they're at all vulnerable, it seems like something which is going to happen just simply because it's an attractive target.
Lost at C:>. Found at C.
That type of research really does not seem like something Uber really has the resources for. Google has money to burn so they can have these kinds of pie in the sky research projects, but what has Uber really done from a technological perspective? A cell phone app and some centralized logistics? They did an ok job scaling, but it is still not that impressive of a technical accomplishment.
That being said, the idea of Uber running self driving cars is kinda scary. The company already has a reputation for skirting or ignoring laws/regulations and treats things like insurance as 'customer beware'. In fact their general attitude of 'look out for yourself' would speak to some potentially scary vehicle behavior settings.
I totally think Google should just buy Uber and change it's name to Goober. That would be awesome.