[jacobush]

It certainly CAN but a regular GPS just sucks compared to the Knowledge.

[carlmr]

With enough driving experience even with GPS you'll learn enough about some of the cases where you can know better.

[jacobush]

People can learn, of course. I'm just saying that a an ever changing score of Uber drivers will not be comparable to drivers with "the Knowledge". Any other claim feels preposterous to me.

This can of course be replicated with a computer, but a simple GPS is not going to cut it. Advanced machine learning, voice recognition like nothing I have ever seen, very good A.I. to resolve misunderstandings about where tourists and other non frequent travellers might really want to go instead of where they actually said. And so on and so on. We can get there. An underpaid, recently started and soon to be replaced, stressed uber driver in his uncles car armed with a GPS app is just not going to cut it. Yet.

[eru]

Forcing people to pay for the gold-plated service of the Knowledge seems like a bit trade-off though.

[DanBC]

They're not forced to pay for it. They can use other private hire cabs if they don't want a taxi with a driver with the knowledge.

[eru]

Are they allowed to hail from the street?

[DanBC]

No, if you want to hail from the street you need a taxi.

Uber doesn't allow hailing from the street either.