[ocdtrekkie]

Sure, they could definitely do similarly to what Uber just announced, in a small scope area like the Bay Area suburbs. But that's not likely to be a high margin product, certainly not something Google would want to hang onto long term. It's far smarter to be selling software licenses or cloud access to millions of units built by other car manufacturers and operated by individuals or other companies at scale, that's where the money is.

But you also have to realize that you'll also highlight the weaknesses of the technology. People may not be able to easily specify to the car where they'd like to disembark. What if people want to be taken just outside the service area? Uber is including a human with their self-driving project for now, which doesn't save them (or you) any money.

Google learned from Glass that a small number of users and a lot of public attention and hype about a product can quickly eviscerate it. The technology was good, but people without hands-on experience misunderstood it, and a couple small incidents became national news. A small rollout can just as easily kill your project as kick it off.

[petra]

Even if Google decides to sell access to other companies, at scale, they can still say: "our service only works in summer , in that list of expanding areas". And of course if they sell access on a per-trip-basis, it's almost as if they own the service themselves.

>> What if people want to be taken just outside the service area?

Google is currently trying to be the comparison search engine for people who want to order rides - via their Google Maps. If they sucsseed, they'll just fit you with the right service according the limitations of the self-driving car ,etc.

And regarding Google Glass - IDK. Even Uber is marketed on a city-by-city basis,