Dare ObasanjoApr 12, 2023

The former COO of Lyft's critique of Lyft & Uber is an example of the magical thinking in the space.

It costs $1000 for them to acquire each driver in bonuses & ads but he says there are no such costs for robotaxis.

Does he think robotaxis will cost less than $1000 each?

https://www.semafor.com/article/04/11/2023/ex-tesla-exec-jon-mcneill-on-why-the-us-is-charging-into-an-ev-supercycle

GM director and ex-Tesla exec Jon McNeill on why the U.S. is charging into an EV supercycle | Semafor

The CEO of DVx Ventures also says the commercialization of autonomous driving is finally here, but machine learning will make our cars into assistants before AI.

Show threadDominic 🇪🇺 🏳️‍🌈 🇺🇦Apr 12, 2023
@carnage4life Ah, the Underpants Gnomes business plan. This was always the Uber plan: pay to own the market, in the hope that the tech to make it profitable arrives before investors lose patience. Plenty of futurists were/are happy to play “what if” with them, but too many investors mistook one kind of speculation for another…
Show threadWendy (prev Jason) AApr 12, 2023
@riotnrrd @carnage4life they’re a cab company with a virtual dispatcher. The fact the tech isn’t profitable is strictly their own fault.
Show threadDominic 🇪🇺 🏳️‍🌈 🇺🇦
@norgralin @carnage4life I would argue that the existence of the market Uber & Lyft are attempting (poorly) to operate in is in itself a failure of the incumbent cab companies. At least here in Europe, they have now seen the light and have got organised through FreeNow, which gives me an Uber-like experience (summon a car to me, know price up front, pay through my phone) but using proper licensed taxis.
Apr 12, 2023 at 5:32pmIceCubesApp