Google poised for an Apple-like feud with Uber over ridesharing and self-driving cars
The once-tight relationship between Google and ridesharing service Uber has reportedly frayed as the two companies make moves into each others' territory, a split reminiscent of the tension between Google and Apple over Android.
Google senior executive David Drummond --?who sits on Uber's board of directors --?has informed the startup's leadership that Google is exploring the launch of an Uber-like service, according to Bloomberg. At the same time, Uber has partnered with Carnegie Mellon University to open a Pittsburgh facility dedicated to the development of self-driving cars, long a Google research priority, as noted by TechCrunch.
Google's new project is reportedly already functional in a limited trial, with employees at the Mountain View firm using it regularly. Uber's research center is in its nascent stages, but the company is said to have begun staffing it up and made a "multi-hundred-thousand dollar investment in third-party engineering workstations."
Both moves are logical, given the companies' long-term aspirations, but the apparently swift end to what was a close partnership is somewhat surprising.
Google's venture capital arm has invested more than $250 million in Uber, by far the search giant's largest outside investment before it took part of a $1 billion stake in Elon Musk's SpaceX earlier this month. Drummond's seat on Uber's board was acquired as part of the former deal, and the board is thought to be deciding if they should ask him to resign.
Uber leans heavily on Google Maps for routing its drivers, and the Google Maps app for iOS and Android includes Uber as a routing option for consumers. It is unclear how much revenue is driven by this integration, but it was hailed as a milestone during its announcement.
Google has been through a similar transition before, when then-CEO Eric Schmidt --?at the time a member of Apple's board of directors --?informed his colleagues of Google's intention to develop an iPhone competitor. Schmidt began recusing himself from board meetings where the iPhone was discussed, and eventually resigned from Apple's board in 2009.
The situation, combined with the similarities between iOS and Android upon the latter's release, prompted late Apple CEO Steve Jobs to declare "thermonuclear war" on Google.
Apple later evicted all Google services from the iPhone's home screen, replacing Google Maps with a home-grown solution and forcing YouTube into the App Store. Google continues to be the default search provider for mobile Safari --?a position for which Google pays Apple -- but even that is thought to be up for grabs.
Google senior executive David Drummond --?who sits on Uber's board of directors --?has informed the startup's leadership that Google is exploring the launch of an Uber-like service, according to Bloomberg. At the same time, Uber has partnered with Carnegie Mellon University to open a Pittsburgh facility dedicated to the development of self-driving cars, long a Google research priority, as noted by TechCrunch.
Google's new project is reportedly already functional in a limited trial, with employees at the Mountain View firm using it regularly. Uber's research center is in its nascent stages, but the company is said to have begun staffing it up and made a "multi-hundred-thousand dollar investment in third-party engineering workstations."
Both moves are logical, given the companies' long-term aspirations, but the apparently swift end to what was a close partnership is somewhat surprising.
Google is one of Uber's largest investors and maintains a seat on the board, currently held by chief legal officer David Drummond.
Google's venture capital arm has invested more than $250 million in Uber, by far the search giant's largest outside investment before it took part of a $1 billion stake in Elon Musk's SpaceX earlier this month. Drummond's seat on Uber's board was acquired as part of the former deal, and the board is thought to be deciding if they should ask him to resign.
Uber leans heavily on Google Maps for routing its drivers, and the Google Maps app for iOS and Android includes Uber as a routing option for consumers. It is unclear how much revenue is driven by this integration, but it was hailed as a milestone during its announcement.
Google has been through a similar transition before, when then-CEO Eric Schmidt --?at the time a member of Apple's board of directors --?informed his colleagues of Google's intention to develop an iPhone competitor. Schmidt began recusing himself from board meetings where the iPhone was discussed, and eventually resigned from Apple's board in 2009.
The situation, combined with the similarities between iOS and Android upon the latter's release, prompted late Apple CEO Steve Jobs to declare "thermonuclear war" on Google.
Apple later evicted all Google services from the iPhone's home screen, replacing Google Maps with a home-grown solution and forcing YouTube into the App Store. Google continues to be the default search provider for mobile Safari --?a position for which Google pays Apple -- but even that is thought to be up for grabs.
Comments
Go for it, Uber. I'll just laugh and laugh and laugh as Google struggles with their post-search growth plan.
(Well, yeah. I guess they would be hot for that last one. They are Google...)
http://www.thedailybeast.com/articles/2014/11/19/the-ten-worst-uber-horror-stories.html
What's the lesson here, folks?
What a low life, despicable company.
I hope to never be in a self driving car. At my age and the absolute craziness of the drivers in my home vicinities, probably not going to happen in my lifetime anyway. I already have my own private driver in a few of the cities I frequent. I did use Uber twice so far and it was fine.
Oh look Google is ripping off an idea verbatim from a company that they have a close partnership with... never seen that before from them. /s
Both moves are logical, given the companies' long-term aspirations ...
Uber's long-term aspirations:
1. Re-invent the taxi industry
2. Make a dent in the express delivery industry (but only before quadcopters take over)
Google's long-term aspirations:
1. Make $$$ billions from advertising
2. Use those advertising $$$ billions to make enemies in as many industries as possible
Uber has been excited about bringing competition to this space as long as they were the ones with the best tech, now that they aren't, they know what it feels like to be the other guys.
I don't like Google taking people ideas, but its just an interface to hail a taxi. It's not like there aren't many other sites and services doing very similar things. Google and iOS seems very different to me. AThough Google does come off shady having gotten into their closed door meeting without following through on their stated intentions. But making a taxi interface is too easy for a company like Google, it's like telling them not to make a webpage, it would be such a basic add on. I feel bad for uber, they definitely don't have much time or money to compete in the autonomous car industry.
As far as safety goes that is the selling point with driverless cars, isn't it? I once took a cab from an event and the driver went up on the curb twice(!) with two wheels. Terrifying!
Come on Apple where's ?Search?
I have an idea so good for a search engine that it could put a dent in Giggle.
I don't know if Apple accepts 3rd party submissions though?
On another note, an Apple search could be UTTER GARBAGE and still take %20 of Giggle's annual revenue. Apple is either waiting to get it right or just not focused in that area.
Now if Google can make its self-driving car function like Uber.
They want their self driving cars to assault and kidnap their passengers? They want self driving hit-and-run machines? They want to track where people go and interpolate what they are doing?
(Well, yeah. I guess they would be hot for that last one. They are Google...)
http://www.thedailybeast.com/articles/2014/11/19/the-ten-worst-uber-horror-stories.html
You are either being sarcastic or you completely misunderstand my point.
This is what I meant when I said that Google should make its self-driving car function like Uber...
Google should partner with Tesla and make their self-driving car an all electric self-driving smart car, and create a car sharing network with induction charging pads that the car can park on; so that when the car needs to charge, it drives itself to the nearest charging pad, parks, and then the car lowers a magnetic induction charge port that connects to the pad.
Google could then partner with car sharing networks such as ZipCar and Enterprise Car Share (formally iGoCar), and people can then rent the car. If it was legal, instead of going to a location to pick up the car, the car would come to you, using your smart phone to locate you, and then you use your car share key card to access the car.
What would be cool is to use the car with Google maps, and then select your pick-up and drop-off points; and then when you enter the car, the car just drives to the destination, and all you have to do is ride.
When you want to take over, just push a button to override; and if you are not at your destination, and you want the car to get you there, the car would just re-route like the TomTom SatNav, and take you to your destination from your current location.
Instead of having to drive the car back to its pick up point, you would just exit the car, and the car would then go to the nearest access point, and park itself onto a charging pad. This is similar to the bike share system, where you unlock the bike from a bike share rack, and then lock the bike to a bike share rack nearest your destination.
I would keep this Google Car's design exactly as it is; and I would make the roof-mounted LIDAR flash like a safety light, so that people can be aware of it when it is on the road; and I would paint the car with light-reflecting paint, so that at night, the car reflects light from street lamps and head lights.
The objective is to make this car as visually safe as possible, and make it visually non-threatening and fun to ride in, to naturally engender trust in the vehicle, that you are riding with a safe driver.
An alternative to this cars' current design would be the Smart Car.
Ironically, the name Smart Car would be perfect for a self-driving car.
That's my though too. Just as Maps did, if ?Search is built into iOS and OS X the vast majority of folks will use it much of the time and devastate Gaggle's income from iOS and OS X. Apple could buy DuckDuckGo and be there in a week!
Here's the dealio - it's gonna be far easier for google to take their self driving cars and make a taxi interface than it will be for uber to take their taxi interface and create a self driving car. It only makes sense for google to create a web portal for their self driving cars. They don't need uber for that, and would probably only use them if they outright bought the company.
No. Uber could bring a self-driving car to market just as quick as Google. All they have to do is partner with one of the many companies working on this technology, who are just as far along (or farther) than Google is.
Oh, wait, they just did. Carnegie Mellon.
There's two things I hate about tech blogs and the media. The attention and credit they give to Google over self-driving cars and the same for Tesla and their electric cars. Neither of these companies has actually created anything new or noteworthy - they're just standing on the shoulders of numerous companies who've invested heavily in the underlying technology. They also like to blow their own horns while others sit back quietly working on their own versions happy to let them keep yapping.
When the technology for self-driving cars (by technology I'm referring to the computer and vision systems to make it possible) becomes affordable and reliable then you'll see the big players like Ford, GM, Toyota and Honda come in with their own versions. And with their extensive experience in automotive they'll steamroll right over Google. Same thing with Tesla (when the next leap in battery technology comes out).
/rant
On another note, an Apple search could be UTTER GARBAGE and still take 20% of Google's annual revenue. Apple is either waiting to get it right or just not focused in that area.
I have to think that all those data centers that Apple is building has to be doing more than just handling everyone's iCloud accounts. I think Apple really is stealthily aggregating everything, and when it's polished... will bring Google to its knees. I'll be a very happy AAPL person when that day comes.
I have to think that all those data centers that Apple is building has to be doing more than just handling everyone's iCloud accounts. I think Apple really is stealthily aggregating everything, and when it's polished... will bring Google to its knees. I'll be a very happy AAPL person when that day comes.
Well, they need that capacity for SOMETHING. And now they're building another (by all accounts the largest) in Mesa.
Search is one possibility. Another is streaming content that requires a large amount of storage and bandwidth. Like TV.
Neither of us know how much work it takes to get a self driving car right. Well soon find out if uber and the big car companies need Google's system. I know Google started with other peoples work, but who knows how much extra they've put into it by now. Uber throwing multiple hundred "thousand" dollar investments doesn't sound too promising. Hopefully you're right, and uber does it easily.
I don't have a problem with Google in the self driving car business, they're not copying anyone, they're starting where everyone else is, with the work done at universities. They're typically attention hogs, but in this scenario automous cars need to be hogging the media, to get the government and denizens aware and prepared ahead of time. With all the money apple is putting in r&d, we may be looking at an apple car one day as well.