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Well, it would break Uber if it weren't really clear that Uber is aware of this and wants to get in on it as soon as they can. Digital cameras broke Polaroid, but if Polaroid had gotten in on it early they could have been a dominant force in an emerging market. I don't think Uber is Polaroid here.

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Right. To riff on Clay Christensen, Uber is well-aware that self-driving cars will disrupt them, and want to be the ones to bring that disruption to market such that they have the opportunity to survive it and profit from it as opposed to being Polaroided, or Kodaked.

but I find the timing of investing in self driving cars will be the end of Uber, it's a pivot, one that will ultimately benefit Google and Tesla type of established, tech giants with tons of data and hardware experience vs. a mobile app backed by a business that owns neither it's people or drivers.

The article talks about network effect but it is grossly miscalculated.

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