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posted by chromas on Friday November 16 2018, @10:24AM   Printer-friendly
from the taking-investors-for-a-ride? dept.

Uber Technologies Inc said on Wednesday that growth in bookings for its ride-hailing and delivery services rose 6 percent in the latest quarter, the third quarter in a row that growth has remained in the single digits after double-digit growth for all of last year.

The San Francisco-based firm lost $1.07 billion for the three months ending Sept. 30, a 20 percent increase from the previous quarter but down 27 percent from a year ago, when the company posted its biggest publicly reported quarterly loss on the heels of the departure of Uber co-founder and former Chief Executive Travis Kalanick.

Uber is seeking to expand in freight hauling, food delivery and electric bikes and scooters as growth in its now decade-old ride-hailing business dwindles. The company, valued at $76 billion, faces pressure to show it can still grow enough to become profitable and satisfy investors in an initial public offering planned for some time next year. ADVERTISEMENT

Its adjusted loss before interest, taxes, depreciation and amortization was $592 million, down from $614 million last quarter and $1.02 billion a year ago.

We may lose money on every transaction but we'll make it up in volume?

But seriously, I find it interesting there was absolutely no mention of their plans with self-driving vehicles.


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  • (Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Friday November 16 2018, @11:11AM (8 children)

    by Anonymous Coward on Friday November 16 2018, @11:11AM (#762645)

    I'm not sure that one can have 'plans' and 'self-driving vehicles' in a single sentence, but i'm not a grammar nazi, so i must ask: can one 'plan' around non-existing things, or is speculation/dream/hope/investment/research/development/shenanigan a better word here?

    I can see using the word plan in the sense of 'secret-plans', maybe followed by something speculative about 'acquiring from other secret and more advanced firms by means likely to not be on the up and up,' as 'in character'... but in the end, these things still seem to be unobtainium. more realistic, imo, would be something delusional about 'grand alliances' with car-makers; but i think they already played that card.

    anyhow, going hiking often makes me feel like i already have one of these :) .. so on that note, i'm going to take a hike now! thanks for any feedback on the suitability of 'plan'.

  • (Score: 2) by FatPhil on Friday November 16 2018, @11:28AM (2 children)

    by FatPhil (863) <pc-soylentNO@SPAMasdf.fi> on Friday November 16 2018, @11:28AM (#762650) Homepage
    What planet are you on? Self-driving vehicles are very much a thing. They may not be sufficiently capable to be approved in all possible traffic environments yet, but that doesn't make them cease to exist. Most of the work in the largest retailer in the world's warehouses is done by autonomous vehicles. (Where everything on floor is such a vehicle, the vehicles are provably and demonstrably safe. One may be led to conclude that perhaps in road use, it's the humans that make things less safe.)
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    • (Score: 2) by edIII on Friday November 16 2018, @10:06PM (1 child)

      by edIII (791) on Friday November 16 2018, @10:06PM (#762863)

      Sorry, but that is a little bullshit. It wasn't a human that confused the AI and caused it to drive into a tractor trailer. Maybe Tesla's AI is just shit, but I also seriously doubt your implied Skynet-like "100% success rate" with all AI driven vehicles in industry.

      They may not be sufficiently capable to be approved in all possible traffic environments yet, but that doesn't make them cease to exist.

      Yeah, an environment with tractor trailers with white sides being confused by an AI driven by a human not paying the least bit attention to the AI's fuckups. Not saying they should cease to exist, but saying they're self-driving is a bit disingenuous. They attempt self-driving in some very restricted situations, and perform admirably enough to work under direct supervision. Like Mercedes with their cruise control keeping proper distance, and assisted lane changes. All which need to be performed with your hands on the damn wheel still. Not really self-driving is it?

      There isn't a purely self-driving car in existence yet, that can handle rush hour traffic. Maybe some DoD applications where a rover can autonomously find its way across a desert, which is not the same as traffic and public infrastructure. It's not the humans that are creating failures in the AI, they're doing that perfectly well on their own.

      That being said, when the AI finally reaches the performance metrics we need for safe and reliable operations, it will be humans becoming the weaker link. I hope it fucking happens soon, because distractions from technology are endemic and reaching a breaking point. The number of humans I see texting while driving increases every single day. Those people are a greater threat than some 95% perfect AI.

      At the moment, I don't feel safe with either humans or AI on the road :)

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      • (Score: 2) by FatPhil on Sunday November 18 2018, @12:27AM

        by FatPhil (863) <pc-soylentNO@SPAMasdf.fi> on Sunday November 18 2018, @12:27AM (#763267) Homepage
        Could you please isolate which bit of my post you consider "bullshit". I stand by it all, and can't see any bit of it that's more likely to be considered bullshit than any other part.
        --
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  • (Score: 2) by takyon on Friday November 16 2018, @11:46AM

    by takyon (881) <reversethis-{gro ... s} {ta} {noykat}> on Friday November 16 2018, @11:46AM (#762652) Journal

    They exist and are on the roads today.

    Uber had to cut off its operations in Arizona and Pittsburgh due to their own failure, but others are testing them on the roads. Uber, Google, and others are aiming to provide an autonomous ride hailing service.

    https://qz.com/1326155/uber-has-terminated-its-self-driving-car-operators-in-pittsburgh/ [qz.com]

    https://www.bloomberg.com/news/articles/2018-11-13/waymo-to-start-first-driverless-car-service-next-month [bloomberg.com]

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  • (Score: 3, Funny) by c0lo on Friday November 16 2018, @05:18PM

    by c0lo (156) Subscriber Badge on Friday November 16 2018, @05:18PM (#762746) Journal

    so i must ask: can one 'plan' around non-existing things,

    You certainly don't work in the software industry.

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  • (Score: 4, Touché) by DeathMonkey on Friday November 16 2018, @06:21PM (1 child)

    by DeathMonkey (1380) on Friday November 16 2018, @06:21PM (#762780) Journal

    can one 'plan' around non-existing things,

    Everything that has ever been built didn't exist when it was being planned.

    • (Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Saturday November 17 2018, @12:27AM

      by Anonymous Coward on Saturday November 17 2018, @12:27AM (#762910)

      Exactly!

      Just like my plans for world domination based on room-temperature nuclear fusion and human-capacity time travel.

      Just a couple of inventions, and the world will fall before me!

      According to my plans you are doomed. DOOMED! I say.

      /sarcasm off

      There is a difference between planning to create something that does not exist (within the realm of what is possible) and a plan that is _based_ on those currently non-existing things.

  • (Score: 2) by darkfeline on Friday November 16 2018, @08:46PM

    by darkfeline (1030) on Friday November 16 2018, @08:46PM (#762839) Homepage

    Too bad that this article about Waymo launching in a month didn't land two hours earlier. Self-driving vehicles have existed for a long time now by any reasonable definition, thus rendering your philosophical question moot.

    https://soylentnews.org/article.pl?sid=18/11/16/1234203 [soylentnews.org]

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