UBER - Do you think this is true?

I do not think it will change that much, but would not be that bad if you had to and you can do e-mails or read news or prepare things for work before you arrive, but it is still dead time for a lot of people.

 

Yep. Tesla autonomous, although they recommend you don't

 

I like the way she described it as a deferred loan.
If someone like Taku uses the extra cash to invest in property it's the opportunity cost isnt it?

His money earned now is reinvested and compounds.
He may have to pay for it later with car maintenance, depreciation etc but he may benefit more as he has the capital now.

The closest example is capital depreciation off a property.
You're merely deferring paying the CGT bill once you sell a property, but you might never sell or sell in 20 years when inflation pushes that initial depreciation deduction down even more and allows you to have greater opportunity cost savings by saving the money now. I hope that made sense.

 

If, however, you use to it buy nice flashy stuff like watches and shoes etc then it's all a waste of time

 

Uber lost $US800 mil (give or take a bit) in the last quarter (Uber's Loss Exceeds $800 Million in Third Quarter on $1.7 Billion in Net Revenue )

Maybe when things get dire after a capital raising and more debt over the next 12 mths or so, Amazon will buy them for $US1...

 

I was in a Hyundai during the trip from our hotel to the airport in Melbourne recently and the driver was showing me how he could take his hands and feet off the steering wheel and foot pedals. We were doing 110km/h and the car navigated the lanes and when we hit traffic, automatically braked to keep a safe distance and then accelerated again as traffic started moving. He said it was about a $60k car but it was quite amazing to watch.

I think we're a lot closer than most people realise.

 

It is a legal thing, not so much a technical thing, and at the moment a cost thing, as with everything, starts slow then becomes the norm quite quick.

 

To put in my 2 cents worth, I drove for uber for 3 month late 2015. What she is saying is true, but i would not call it scam. I have never heard people saying that uber drivers earn a lot. Depending on what car you drive, you can average $13-$20 per hour after tax and all expenses.

$20 if you have one of those hybrid cars with fuel consumption 5-6 L/100km. However that was the case year ago when uber fees were 20% for drivers. Now they are 25% for new drivers, so i really doubt $20, i would say around $18 max and for my Kluger it would be around 15$ max.

 

That former US soldier famously lost his head when using the system and not paying attention.

But they have been improving the system hardware and software.

 

Transport has always and will always continue* to be a market where disruptive innovation is to be expected. (*Till we have instant transportation; 'teleporters' I cant see how we can innovate much past that.)

Looking back on history in the industrial revolution railroads were protested by river boat operators as they would "disrupt the economy and were against the decent culture" (really just going to put them out of business).

The same thing happened with the mass production of automobiles.

Now its happening with Uber and Taxi drivers.

The next phase that people are totally not ready for is not just driverless cars but the complete automation of unskilled labour.

Not many people have put any thought into it, most of those that have think it will herald a new utopian age where people don't need to work.

I postulate that we are actually on the precipice of massive social upheaval as the entire economic scene is going to change where only those of intellect; scientist, engineers and artist are going to be of any economic value. It's going to be interesting to see what happens when there is 90% unemployment.

 

Did he get done for indecent exposure?

 

Sounds like we need an 'off shore' for the 3% of the population which are elite, the rest can fight it out in the slums

(In reference to the (v good) netflix show, '3%')

 

Per km driven, autonomous cars are already significantly safer than human controlled vehicles. I guess that if a Tesla or Google car has an accident, it's far more newsworthy than the thousands of other accidents that occurred that day.

Kind if like being eaten by a shark. Your chances of a fatal car accident on the way home from the beach are much greater.

 

Reminds me of this TED talk I heard the other day.
Kevin Kelly: How AI can bring on a second Industrial Revolution | TED Talk | TED.com

 

Agree. Except for the artist bit

 

I don't dig it that much... the show... interesting, but a bit stupid, and in portugese.

 

My colleague went up the back of another car on the weekend because he was driving on the motorway and one of the cars in front suddenly slammed on the brakes as they realised they were going to exit the motorway when they didn't mean to. It made every other car in front of him slam on their brakes. He didn't leave enough space and ran into the back of the car in front of him.

If the cars were driverless, Car A wouldnt have accidently exited the motorway, and not have needed to slam on the brakes (and thats simply operator error). (Stupid driver!)

Cars B, C, D would not have had to slam on their brakes as there would not be a car in front that slammed on their brakes, or it would have detected the stopped car with no need for reaction time.

Time and money wasted for all... I can imagine the traffic backing up behind too with this multicar collision.