344 karma · joined October 27, 2009
The status quo endorses the former and demonizes the latter.
Try sleeping outside for a year in Phoenix or in Minneapolis. Try getting resources in a sprawling suburb without access to a car. It seems clear that SF, with its dense, walkable layout, access to public transit, and year round moderate climate, would be vastly preferable to most areas of the US.
One of the crucial components of sharing apps is the building of trust and accountability. Identification is part of that.
This list of complaints doesn't hold water for me.
He was typing an email at the time of the accident.
That said, think about the possibilities that could come if one of their major backers (Google) continues to push forward with self driving vehicles. They will have excellent real time traffic data reported back through each vehicle on Waze, and a super efficient dispatch system. They could run 24/7 with electric driverless vehicles with crazy low operating costs. It could turn the entire industry on its head.
The economics would shift so drastically it wouldn't just be Uber vs taxies, it would be Uber vs does it make sense at all to even own your own vehicle. The automated vehicles could have utilization figures that are unheard of today. Why would you buy your own vehicle when you could have an automated Uber pick you up in 3 minutes for dirt cheap?
I think that time will come, probably sooner than we realize. And when it does, Uber will be positioned as the default dispatch gateway.