Google May Be Readying Challenge to Uber and Lyft

Follow the money. The driver is one of the most expensive parts of a cab hire. There will be a great deal of pressure on prices in the future, making chaufeured taxis a luxury service. I expect "Driven by Google" branding will be as common in cars as Android is in your smart phone.



Go Google!

Steve

“The Uber experience is expensive because it’s not just the car but the other dude in the car,” Uber CEO Travis Kalanick said during a 2014 technology conference, indicating Uber would like to find a way to switch to autonomous vehicles. “When there’s no other dude in the car, the cost (of riding with Uber) gets cheaper than owning a vehicle.”

• Source: Google May Be Readying Challenge to Uber and Lyft | TheDetroitBureau.com

Right now, most human drivers are about as good as average robot drivers. But exceptions abound and we will soon (2020?) reach the overwhelming conclusion that human drivers are quaint but dangerous.

• Source: Google: Our Robot Cars Are Better Drivers Than Puny Humans | MIT Technology Review

...It is estimated that 90 % of all car accidents are caused by human error. Drunken driving is one of the leading causes of car accidents. According to a 2011 Center for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) survey, over 4 million adults in the US drink and drive each year. Self driving cars promise to minimize accidents by eliminating the need for human control. They have better reflexes and awareness, say experts. According to a study the use of autonomous brakes will reduce the risks of car crashes by 14%. 

• Source:  Are Self-Driving Cars Safe? - Infographic on Self Driving Cars - Facts & Infographic
• Snowstorms Have You Wishing for a Self-Driving Vehicle? Think Again | TheDetroitBureau.com

Many comments seem to apply to the current state of technology disregarding the crushing power of Moore`s law and Networked Artificial Intelligence that will improve self-driving cars far beyond the abilities of mere mortals. 

...we’ve been slow to acknowledge how they’ve mastered some conceptual routines, in some cases even surpassing their mastery of physical routines. A computerized brain known as the autopilot can fly a 787 jet unaided, but irrationally we place human pilots in the cockpit to babysit the autopilot “just in case.” In the 1990s, computerized mortgage appraisals replaced human appraisers wholesale. Much tax preparation has gone to computers, as well as routine x-ray analysis and pretrial evidence-gathering—all once done by highly paid smart people. We’ve accepted utter reliability in robot manufacturing; soon we’ll accept it in robotic intelligence and service.

• Source: Better Than Human: Why Robots Will — And Must — Take Our Jobs | WIRED

Background: 

Autonomous car - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia



Thanks Jacques.