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Google To Take On Uber With New Ride-Share Service (cnbc.com) 69

Posted by msmash from the game-on dept.
Finally, a major company is planning to compete with Uber in the ride-sharing service space. The Wall Street Journal reports today that Google is planning to debut its own ride-hailing service in San Francisco at "far cheaper rates." (Editor's note: the link could be paywalled, here's an alternate source.) The Mountain View-based company began a pilot program around its California headquarters in May, and enabled several thousand area workers at specific firms to use the Waze navigation app to connect with fellow commuters. Expect Google's service in the coming weeks, says the report. One key difference in Google's approach is that it aims to connect riders with drivers who are already headed in the same direction. The project is in compliance with Waze's aims to "make fares low enough to discourage drivers from operating as taxi drivers." From the report: Still, Google's push into ride-sharing could portend a clash with Uber, a seven-year-old firm valued at roughly $68 billion that largely invented the concept of summoning a car with a smartphone app. Google and Uber were once allies -- Google invested $258 million in Uber in 2013 -- but increasingly see each other as rivals. Alphabet executive David Drummond said Monday that he resigned from Uber's board because of the increasing competition between the companies. Uber, which has long used Google's mapping software for its ride-hailing service, recently began developing its own maps.Game on, Uber.
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Google To Take On Uber With New Ride-Share Service More

Google To Take On Uber With New Ride-Share Service

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  • Finally! (Score:4, Insightful)

    by XxtraLarGe ( 551297 ) on Tuesday August 30, 2016 @03:15PM (#52798649) Journal

    Finally, a major company is planning to compete with Uber in the ride-sharing service space.

    I guess Lyft [lyft.com] doesn't count?

    • Google Ventures invested $258 million in uber in 2013.

      • They will build in Waze integration and then acquire Uber for their market share. Then as soon as millions of people start using it they will kill it off.

    • I've not tried Lyft yet, I'm assuming they're on par with Uber price wise?

      But to me, Uber is priced just right....don't get me wrong, I love a good deal, but if the fares were any lower, I'd start to feel obliged to tip the driver every time...whereas the beauty of Uber is, I'm not expected to tip.

      I have tipped before, especially if I was riding hammered...but also if the person was really cool, or maybe knew some good ways around traffic (and in New Orleans those special skills of drive-fu during Mardi G

      • I've not tried Lyft yet, I'm assuming they're on par with Uber price wise?

        I use Lyft and avoid Uber. The prices are about the same, and the responsiveness is about the same. Even many of the drivers are the same, since many drivers do both. I use Lyft for two reasons: 1. They treat their drivers better, not necessarily with more money, but at least with more respect. 2. By using the smaller company I am helping to keep the market competitive.

        • I use Lyft for two reasons: 1. They treat their drivers better, not necessarily with more money, but at least with more respect.

          That's interesting.

          What /How does Lyft treat their drivers 'better'? What do you mean by 'more respect'? I'm seriously curious.

          I always ask the uber drivers I have here in town that I ride with, and ALL of them seem to like driving for Uber and none have told me a bad experience with the company. So, curious what you've heard is bad from Uber towards their employees.

          • Re: (Score:1)

            by Anonymous Coward

            Former Lyft driver here, with a lot of Lyft/Uber driver friends.

            Uber likes to implement policy changes that are beneficial to Uber, and not their Independent Driver Partners (DPs). One such change was, before they had an Android app, start charging the driver for use of the Uber-only iPhone that they were sending their DPs that did not have an iPhone to run their Driver Mode app. $10 a week, gone, on top of Uber's take per ride. This was done with very, very minimal notification -- about 7-10 days of notice

      • whereas the beauty of Uber is, I'm not expected to tip.

        Yes, the beauty of Uber is that they told all their customers there is no need to tip and prevented drivers from accepting tips (some would anyways but doing so risked getting kicked off forever) because Uber wants to treat their drivers as neither employees nor contractors. They just settled a huge class action lawsuit a few months ago (might not be finalized yet, too lazy to look) over the "no tips" thing because they mislead customers to believe that tips are already included in the fair (they aren't) an

        • Uber abuses the hell out of their drivers all in the name of keeping fares low, riders happy, and their own profits up.

          That's the problem with a job where 97% of the adult population meets the qualifications. Have a driver's license, a car, and insurance. Be able to follow turn-by-turn directions. All while listening to headphones sitting in your comfortable climate controlled car.

          There's a large supply of potential Uber drivers. Of course the compensation is going to be minimal. Uber is going to pay exactly what's required to have driver coverage and not a cent more. The same thing any business would do.

      • I'm not expected to tip

        It really depends on who you ask. Uber's official line is that tipping is not required, but the drivers feel quite differently.

  • Hopefully they'll call it (Score:5, Funny)

    by eth1 ( 94901 ) on Tuesday August 30, 2016 @03:16PM (#52798655)

    Goober :P

  • So, really seems to be "ride-sharing" (Score:4, Insightful)

    by jratcliffe ( 208809 ) on Tuesday August 30, 2016 @03:18PM (#52798669)
    From the sounds of this, they seem to be focused on true "ride-sharing," in which people going in the same direction contribute to the cost of the trip, rather than Uber's taxi-like product. In effect, carpooling.

    • Yeah, I'm totally not agreeing with the way slashdot is trying to sell this, as some sort of competition with uber.

      Uber is a taxi company that differentiates by pretending to be a "ride sharing" company. The existing thing that is actually "ride sharing" is called "craigslist" and there is no special app for ride-sharing.

      What Google is doing appears to be actual ride sharing. If they do it well, I might participate; after all, I already stop for many hitchhikers.

    • So no difference to Uber (when it was a new start-up).

    • Comment removed based on user account deletion

  • How to make it cheaper? (Score:3)

    by rgbscan ( 321794 ) on Tuesday August 30, 2016 @03:19PM (#52798671) Homepage

    Being that Uber is already a minimum wage job outside of the weekend bar hours (Fri and Sat 5pm-3am averages $22 hr gross in the MSP metro and is the only time you can actually make decent money), I don't know what they have up their sleeve to make it even cheaper.

    • I take you you didn't even bother reading the anything past the headline. This is a carpooling application meant to share the cost of two people heading in the same direction. Its not meant as a part time job.

      • Re: (Score:2)

        by rgbscan ( 321794 )

        I see the carpooling part, but the summary also mentions charging fares, not splitting costs. Presumably the car owner is for hire and accepts them, Google just uses something along the lines of "Uber Pool" and "Lyft Line" which also matches riders going in the same direction. Which isn't a differentiator at all, as the article claims.

        • I see the carpooling part, but the summary also mentions charging fares, not splitting costs. Presumably the car owner is for hire and accepts them, Google just uses something along the lines of "Uber Pool" and "Lyft Line" which also matches riders going in the same direction. Which isn't a differentiator at all, as the article claims.

          The difference is that no the much lower fares will be too low to motivate anyone to take driving on as a job. If the fare value is so low that it doesn't even cover the full value of vehicle fuel and wear and tear, much less the driver's time, then no one will try to make money at it. Instead, it will just be a way to defray part of the cost of a journey one was making anyway. In other words, ride sharing.

    • Being that Uber is already a minimum wage job outside of the weekend bar hours

      My sister drives for Uber and averages about $18/hr. That is way more than minimum wage, and is pretty good for a no skill job with flexible hours. Like most Uber drivers, she does it part time, and it is not her main source of income.

      • pretty good before costs and you don't get paid for dead time / waiting time.

      • My sister drives for Uber and averages about $18/hr. That is way more than minimum wage, and is pretty good for a no skill job with flexible hours. Like most Uber drivers, she does it part time, and it is not her main source of income.

        $18 / hour. Minus gas. Minus car repairs. Minus car maintenance (oil changes, tires, breaks, etc). Minus insurance. Minus licensing fees. Minus depreciation on your car (you are putting miles on it reducing it's worth). Minus accidents (of course you'll have more if you are driving professionally). You are lucky if you break even.

        • Re: (Score:2)

          by King_TJ ( 85913 )

          I've got to say though - Uber seems like it pays much better than most courier services used to pay drivers to deliver things!
          I tried working for one of them, once -- and quit within a week. During the lunch rush, they had us delivering boxed lunches to various locations where we were only compensated about $1.50 for each successful delivery. Since you had to seek out people, parking your vehicle and taking things into buildings to them, you wasted a lot of time too.

          The vehicle maintenance is always a facto

          • I think most rationalize some of it away, so to speak.

            Sure, they see short term gains. Things like the insurance bill, big repair bills, new tires, accidents, and so on. Those don't come immediately. So it seems like pure profit at first.

    • Simple, the inside of the car will be lined with small TV's that play obnoxious flash ads. Catered to the passengers, of course.
  • ...I knew you were a flash in the pan.

  • And that would actually be ridesharing, as opposed to what Uber is, which let's you be a part time Taxi service.

  • Google gets so bored with ride-sharing service, they shut it down...

    • google is just throwing money around, and poking fingers into everyone's business ( not to mention politics and bloody regime changes ), because it is not being held accountable by anyone due to its success in its main competence ; ad pushing online.
      but while wasting money on anything and everything, it has lost all focus and is neglecting its core competencies.

      some of the other big tech corps have the same defect.
      they will start refocusing once their cash cow businesses stop expanding and/or profits become

      • google is just throwing money around, and poking fingers into everyone's business ( not to mention politics and bloody regime changes ), because it is not being held accountable by anyone due to its success in its main competence

        How do you suggest they "be held accountable" for this ride sharing app?

        • you seem to have not understood.

          google is not being held accountable, and is wasting its own money, earned through success in its core competencies(mainly ad pushing ), in various kinds of projects which usually turn out mediocre or fails(compared with other companies that have those projects as a core competency). google then abandons them. it has happened again and again .

          old conglomerates that tried to do everything also faced the same problem, and after years of lower return on capital, compared to bro

          • google is not being held accountable

            So, Google can't create a ride-sharing app? It's an immoral venture? They need to be held accountable for this ride sharing app? You think they will regret devoting a few engineers for a few months to write this app? Somehow I doubt that.

            Google's business model is to throw shit at the wall and see if it sticks, and don't shed a tear if it doesn't. It's a great strategy. It's also not too hard to see that most of what they do is to prop up their ad revenue business in one way or another. Android is all about

            • you do have a problem with comprehension, since you are replying to imaginary points i never made , when you go on about "can't create", "immoral venture", "regret", etc.

              if you can read and understand, you will see my point, from first, was that google do throw money to waste when they take up and drop projects(as does some of the other big techs). and they can do that, for now, because they are successful in their main competence ; ad pushing in google's case.but once that core business is no longer a cash

  • I'm skeptical (Score:1)

    by Anonymous Coward
    I'm skeptical that this is going to really threaten Uber. At $0.57/mile (and no per-minute fee) how many people are really going to want to deal with having a stranger in their car? Also bear in mind that since this is "true" ride sharing, none of the drivers are likely to make more than a few dollars a day, on average. What's the driver experience going to look like? Let's say I use Waze on my 10 mile commute to work and I get a pop up notification that says "earn up to $5.70 on your way to work if you

    • At $0.57/mile (and no per-minute fee) how many people are really going to want to deal with having a stranger in their car?

      Ones who are already going that way, are OK with literal ride-sharing.

      Think of it this way... "how many people are really going to..." stop for a hitchhiker? 1%? Less. Much, much less. And yet, there are lots of us who do stop. People can and do get where they are going by hitchhiking. And they're not even paying fifty cents a mile. If I could just check an app before I leave town, "is anybody trying to go my way right now?" and I'd even get paid. $.57/mile offsets the gas and vehicle maintenance, that basi

  • if there is a 'fare' it's not a RIDE SHARE (Score:1)

    by Anonymous Coward

    for fucks sake, it's a god damn taxi.

    ride sharing..

    that's when you see a notice on your work lunchroom's bulletin board, someone looking to SHARE a ride to work.. lives near you.. you take turns driving and picking each other up.. or if one of you is going to drive every day, then you might split the gas.

    or it's a public transit agency that provides vans, vets a driver of that van, provides the insurance, and finds riders to fill it that are going from and to the same general area... all you do is, you gues

  • I have to take exception to the idea that Uber invented summoning a car with a phone app. I've been able to call taxi companies with the "make a phone call" app for decades.

    • I have to take exception to the idea that Uber invented summoning a car with a phone app. I've been able to call taxi companies with the "make a phone call" app for decades.

      Apparently the world is full of idiots who think that "a phone call" is functionally the same as "a smartphone app" .

      If it were , why is it that NOW that Uber (and friends) exist, all the taxi companies have Me Too "smartphone apps"?

  • As others commented, this really seems to just be part of a "long play", ensuring a piece of the self-driving taxi business once it becomes possible. As heavily as Google has invested in self-driving vehicles, it seems obvious they wouldn't want to just give the whole market for self-driving cabs up to business like Uber or Lyft.

    If they just want to establish their name in the market, in the meantime? Google could operate something like this at a loss, considering that "marketing expenses", as they evolve t

  • Every time Uber is mentioned it is called a ride sharing service, when it is demonstrably nothing of the sort. Ride sharing has existed for decades, and is entirely different to being a taxi service.

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