[munk-a]

And this will last until... self-driving cars enter the picture and bankrupt them both.

[untog]

Given the amount Uber has spent on self driving cars, I doubt they'd let themselves get replaced.

Given the money the entire industry has spent on self driving cars and gotten little reward for, I don't think anyone is getting replaced for a very long time.

[warp_factor]

Uber has spent a lot of money on Self Driving car (remember the Otto fiasco ?) and is hypothetically the least advanced of them all!

[ham_sandwich]

Yes, from the looks of it, they are well behind in self-driving tech. If it’s inevitable that self-driving will bankrupt them, why would anyone invest in them at all?

The two scenarios I can see are

1). That their ride-matching platform will still play a role in a self-driving world. However, I think a worst case for Uber is Waymo gets there first and then Google can almost trivially replace Uber with their own matching platform.

2.) They acquire a startup that has a successful direct self-driving play.

Either way, the economics of their core offering changes drastically. I have a hard time believing investors in Uber aren’t pricing this in at least somewhat accurately.

[macintux]

There's always the possibility of 3) No one achieves sustainable self-driving in the short to medium term.

[Barrin92]

Also, uber has no assets. Are they going to add the overhead of an autonomous car fleet in every city on top of their already crazy cash burn rate?

I don't see how this business model even works.

[icedchai]

That's a ton of time. Self-driving cars are decades out.