Are Google And Uber Preparing For A Battle Of Self-Driving Taxi Supremacy?

<> on February 2, 2015 in Mountain View, California.
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Yesterday, Google Chairman Eric Schmidt (riding shotgun) took Anthony Foxx, the U.S. Transportation Secretary, for a spin in one of the company’s much-hyped self-driving cars at Google’s headquarters in Mountain View, California. After that, they sat down for a “fireside chat” to discuss a new DoT analysis of the next 30 years of the country’s transportation system, entitled “Beyond Traffic.” It’s possible that part of that conversation had a lot to do with the idea of a person getting into a taxi and not having to worry about being taken on a ride from hell, as Google’s vision of the future might have way more Johnny Cabs and far less Bennys trying to feed their four or five kids.

At the same time, Uber announced a “strategic partnership” with Carnegie Mellon University for the creation of Uber’s Advanced Technologies Center in Pittsburgh, where the company will conduct “research and development, primarily in the areas of mapping and vehicle safety and autonomy technology.” Basically, Google and Uber could eventually be locked in a battle for self-driving taxi supremacy, which is very interesting considering Google’s previous investments in its potential future competitor. According to Bloomberg, though, things are already heating up…

Google is preparing to offer its own ride-hailing service, most likely in conjunction with its long-in-development driverless car project. [Google’s Chief Legal Officer and Senior VP of Corporate Development and Uber board member David] Drummond has informed Uber’s board of this possibility, according to a person close to the Uber board, and Uber executives have seen screenshots of what appears to be a Google ride-sharing app that is currently being used by Google employees. This person, who requested not to be named because the talks are private, said the Uber board is now weighing whether to ask Drummond to resign his position as an Uber board member. (Via Bloomberg)

Obviously, losing Google’s money and in turn facing off against that same money without a replacement investor would leave Uber in a tough situation, and while neither company spoke to Bloomberg on the record, the concern is pretty clear.

Google is a deep-pocketed, technically sophisticated competitor, and Uber’s dependence on the search giant goes far beyond capital. Uber’s smartphone applications for drivers and riders are based on Google Maps, which gives Google a fire hose of data about transportation patterns within cities. Uber would be crippled if it lost access to the industry-leading mapping application, and alternatives— such as AOL’s MapQuest, Apple Maps, and a host of regional players—are widely seen as inferior. (Via Bloomberg)

So if Uber’s overly-confident executives thought their biggest problem was a bad reputation from drivers taking advantage of their passengers, both financially and allegedly physically, or because the company wants to own the rights to the practice of “surge pricing,” it seems that all of that will be placed on the back burner for now. Google’s a much bigger headache than some people leaving bad reviews on the Internet.

However, The Verge, which referred to “Beyond Traffic” as a “dire warning,” was quick to provide a counterpoint to Bloomberg’s “exclusive” on this brewing feud. The idea of self-driving taxis is still years and probably decades away, considering all of the obstacles that Google and Uber would have to overcome in developing autonomous vehicles, like keeping the cars from driving over a cliff, for example.

Google’s priorities for self-driving cars remain in research and policymaking. And it can’t be overstated just how much more work is necessary to make them a viable reality — particularly Google’s vision of an autonomous, steering wheel-free box on wheels. They can’t handle inclement weather, which is particularly troubling for us Northerners getting walloped with record-breaking blizzards in the past couple weeks. They struggle to make quick, human-like decisions at intersections without compromising safety. Urban environments are still far more troublesome than highways are — and through all of this, we still don’t know who’s responsible when a self-driving car crashes. (Via The Verge)

Basically, before you get your hopes up about robots picking you up from the bar after last call, you need to realize that for the immediate future, it would end up looking like this…

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