

SoftBank Emerges as the Biggest Challenger to Uber - geralt
http://techcrunch.com/2015/01/19/softbank-taxi-apps/

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zaroth
Frothy... Billions of dollars in VC to develop wanna-be monopolies for hailing
a cab. Oh, how we'll look back on this and laugh.

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sschueller
These numbers are getting ridiculous. Where is the value added?

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JimmyM
I suspect that the amazing ease of use to the user - get a cab in just a
couple of taps of the finger - is being backed not for its own sake, which
appears to be of limited use to the average individual currently, but because
the infrastructure behind it could easily and far more profitably be adapted
to operate self-driving cars.

So I see it as a speculative sort of investment in self-driving cars as much
as in these companies. To dominate the market when self-driving cars emerge,
with their increased capacity and lower overheads, would be pretty sweet.

Apologies to cab drivers for describing you as 'overheads' and 'decreased
capacity' within a single clause, I realise this sounds cold but this is how
it will be seen within the companies.

Also, I've never personally used Uber - I don't earn enough to use cabs in
general. If it's more complicated than I assumed to order a cab through it
then my other assumptions are probably wrong too.

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collyw
Phoning a cab company via a dumbphone was only a few taps of a finger as well.
It had been that way for years. The only problem was knowing the number.

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JimmyM
For me I am also extremely anxious on the phone (albeit getting better), but
this is a niche case.

I think knowing the number is possibly the complication that Uber solves?
EDIT: I'm pretty uninformed about this whole world, as I use a dumbphone and
never take a taxi so my guesses may be pretty wild here...

Anyway, I suppose that you _could_ have a number that you call that
automatically delivers a self-driving car to your location as determined by
GPS/voice-recognition technology but I think people would rather use an app.

It's the potential of self-driving cars to make use of this sort of company's
services that looks like it'll be profitable to me personally.

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guard-of-terra
There is no reason why taxi-on-demand won't be a competitive business. Entry
barrier is also low-ish for a business that makes money, not just sells ads.

