Driverless car service will be free

Aug 11, 2017 46 Comments

In the future when the industry consolidates, car services like Lyft, Uber and rental car compaines are dead. Google or <insert name> will offer free car service for playing ads the whole time on TVs.

Car compianes will no longer sell cars in mass beacuse who wants that cost when you have a free limo. Subways and Buses will die a slow death because i have a free personal limo and no longer need to run on thier schedule.

Gas stations, tire shops, carwashes are dead because free limo fleets will be maintained centrally.

The list goes on and on.

The winner will be whoever is building thier own cars cheapest with the best features much like the hypercloud companies build thier own servers.

Is Google buying GM, Ford or Tesla?
Is Apple buying one of the?
Is Amazon buying one of them?
Is Microsft even looking at the Advertising game in a free car service world?

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TOP 46 Comments
  • Isn't this a little too early to smoke even on a Friday?
    Aug 11, 2017 1
  • Apple / Eng
    SmallCheez

    Go to company page Apple Eng

    SmallCheez
    They have used advertisement in mass transportation before, it didn't cover all the cost. I'm talking TVs in buses, not just posters on the outside.
    What make you think advertisement could ever cover the cost of single passenger rides, which will still be an order of magnitude more expensive than mass transit.
    Aug 11, 2017 2
  • so you are saying i can't turn a profit on a $10,000 car that has a life of 300,000 miles. Pumping hundreds of ad views an hour.
    Aug 11, 2017 8
    • $10,000 cars all the same with standard parts. cars are designed where they pull into thier homebase and tires are changed, vacumed and washed without human intervention. Total redesign of how cars are built so the can be easily maintained.
      Aug 11, 2017
    • Amazon / Eng
      mUqi08

      Go to company page Amazon Eng

      PRE
      Amazon
      mUqi08
      right, robot is free not even fixed cost. no r and d money or engineer salary, finance cost, real estate cost, electricity cost, etc.

      keep on dreaming, it will be cheaper but not that cheap.
      Aug 11, 2017
  • Oracle
    jceg8

    Go to company page Oracle

    jceg8
    That's precisely what I'm saying. YouTube ads cost around $7.6 per 1000 views for a 30 second pre-roll ads. Even at 15 seconds per ad we are talking about 4 hours of nonstop ads for less than 8 dollars. When you factor in the fact that people are not taking rides between 3-6AM 5 days out of the week your utilization drops off significantly. You know what I would pay for though? A membership to get rid of the ads so I can catch some peace and quiet on my commute.
    Aug 11, 2017 5
    • Apple / Eng
      SmallCheez

      Go to company page Apple Eng

      SmallCheez
      Uber and Lyft pay $0 for the cars, insurance or their maintenance (in most markets) and pay drivers a portion of the fares (~80%). Uber and Lyft have mostly fixed cost.
      Yet they are still loosing money at this time. They need to scale up, add more riders.

      Bike sharing services is mostly run as a public service, subsidized by cities.
      Aug 11, 2017
    • Oracle
      jceg8

      Go to company page Oracle

      jceg8
      https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ofo_(bike_sharing)

      No, bike sharing does not have ad revenue at a scale that can cover all cost. That's why they go with a membership model. Ads is not the primary source of revenue.
      Aug 11, 2017
  • Lyft
    UFDj41

    Go to company page Lyft

    UFDj41
    lol if you've ever looked at the costs of running a fleet business there's no way to make this free
    Aug 11, 2017 8