I agree with this, however I don't agree with the author's take on the self driving car part. He says:
> Let’s assume that we will see fully autonomous vehicles that can navigate city traffic in the near future [...] If this technology becomes available, I doubt that Uber will have a monopoly on self-driving car technology.[...]I think it’s safe to say that many companies will have access to self-driving car technology.[...]In this scenario I don’t see how Uber can generate reasonable profits
In the ideal 'future' society, everyone will have a self-driving car they can order to pick them up wherever they are. This would drive Uber out of business. However there will be a whole taxi industry for performing this service when someone is outside of their own city.
I believe the taxis of the future will be there to assist someone in one of two scenarios:
1.) Someone in their own city who doesn't own a self driving car
2.) Someone who is in a city different than their own
I still think there will be plenty of business in the above scenarios - and Uber is positioning itself to be the industry leader/titan. It's definitely a huge gamble since predicting the future is impossible at worst, and extremely hard at best; but we'll see if Uber can stay afloat long enough to reach it.
> Let’s assume that we will see fully autonomous vehicles that can navigate city traffic in the near future [...] If this technology becomes available, I doubt that Uber will have a monopoly on self-driving car technology.[...]I think it’s safe to say that many companies will have access to self-driving car technology.[...]In this scenario I don’t see how Uber can generate reasonable profits
In the ideal 'future' society, everyone will have a self-driving car they can order to pick them up wherever they are. This would drive Uber out of business. However there will be a whole taxi industry for performing this service when someone is outside of their own city.
I believe the taxis of the future will be there to assist someone in one of two scenarios:
1.) Someone in their own city who doesn't own a self driving car
2.) Someone who is in a city different than their own
I still think there will be plenty of business in the above scenarios - and Uber is positioning itself to be the industry leader/titan. It's definitely a huge gamble since predicting the future is impossible at worst, and extremely hard at best; but we'll see if Uber can stay afloat long enough to reach it.