
Uber said to be negotiating sale of self-driving tech to Toyota - wil_wheat_on
https://techcrunch.com/2018/03/19/uber-said-to-be-negotiating-sale-of-self-driving-tech-to-toyota/
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gigatexal
But the way to profitability is to get rid of the diver. If the tech is gone
what will they do?

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onion2k
It could be that they've realised the 'self-driving' part of 'self-driving
cars' is only half the story - they'd also need to build cars. That's really
hard to do at scale. Just look at the Tesla Model 3. Tesla has been making
cars for more than a decade, and they're _really_ struggling to scale up even
with all that experience.

After all, Uber don't need to build the self-driving cars themselves to take
advantage of the cost savings from removing the driver. They could just buy
them once someone else has solved the hard problems.

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wil_wheat_on
Does this mean that ultimately this will be won by manufacturers? Volvo has a
program where you can only lease certain vehicles; Tesla is thinking about on-
demand rentals for vehicles, so in the longer run, the manufacturers may
outmaneuver Uber? Just a thought

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onion2k
I doubt it. Very few people care about whether they're taking a Hitachi or a
Bombardier train. Cars will probably end up going the same way; it'll be about
the consumer brand rather than the manufacturer.

