[minthd]

UBER plans to attack the "drive to work" segment of the transportation market, and it's potentially a huge opportunity for UBER.This Google service, if successful, might fill that role very well.

And the fact that it's cheaper is basically "disruption from below" - a proven strategy in many businesses. While this exact transport service model generally failed , it did succeed in France(blabla car), and Google has unique marketing advantages that might make it succeed elsewhere.

Also, the main competitive barrier for UBER is that many consumers have the habit of ordering transportation through it's app. If Google gets that , the rest is relatively easy.

[freehunter]

Just FYI, it's Uber, not UBER. It's not an acronym.

[fennecfoxen]

https://www.uber.com/ take a look at that-there all-caps branding. It's pretty prominent in the app, too. (At least for UBER as an overall brand - uberX and the like are gladly lowercased.)

Though they do use lowercase in some minor text. Still easy enough to make the mistake, though.

[appletree]

That's just the logo. Looking at their legal documents is just Uber Technologies Inc.

http://newsroom.uber.com/wp-content/uploads/2015/04/FormRule...

[freehunter]

Everything on their home page is in all-caps, not just the word Uber. If you look at press releases, their social media accounts, their emails, anything other than their all-caps homepage, it's shown as Uber.

[txdv]

Blablacar is more disrupting long distance travel (from city to city). It is present in Germany as well, but it is not soooo popular (I can mostly find a ride from my city to any other city only on weekends).

[AdieuToLogic]

> And the fact that it's cheaper is basically "disruption from below" - a proven strategy in many businesses.

I believe the business model you are referencing is generally known as "race to the bottom"[1]. FWIW, it typically is only a "proven strategy" for the business which can starve out everyone else.

1 - https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Race_to_the_bottom

[shostack]

Yep, a big factor to consider here is that while Uber has a head start, Google has a massive chest derived from other products and political clout to deal with the regulatory piece.

They can absolutely price Uber and others out of the market on this if they felt like it.

[jellicle]

Since this is actual carpooling, unlike Uber, there won't be any regulatory pushback. Every jurisdiction loves carpooling.

[minthd]

I don't know. Carpooling could significantly hurt tax revenues in Israel. But of course they can tax through the app.

[shostack]

Could you expand a bit further on the tax revenue impact?