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Uber may be looking to purchase thousands of autonomous cars, but it seems that no deal has been finalized:
Ride-hailing service Uber has sounded out car companies about placing a large order for self-driving cars, an auto industry source said on Friday. "They wanted autonomous cars," the source, who declined to be named, said. "It seemed like they were shopping around."
Loss-making Uber would make drastic savings on its biggest cost -- drivers -- if it were able to incorporate self-driving cars into its fleet. Volkswagen's Audi, Daimler's Mercedes-Benz, BMW and car industry suppliers Bosch and Continental are all working on technologies for autonomous or semi-autonomous cars.
Earlier on Friday, Germany's Manager Magazin reported that Uber had placed an order for at least 100,000 Mercedes S-Class cars, citing sources at both companies. The top-flight limousine, around 100,000 of which Mercedes-Benz sold last year, does not yet have fully autonomous driving functionality.
Another source familiar with the matter said no order had been placed with Mercedes-Benz. Daimler and Uber declined to comment.
Auto industry executives are wary of doing deals with newcomers from the technology and software business who threaten to upend established business models based on manufacturing and selling cars. "We don't want to end up like Nokia's handset business, which was once hugely profitable...then disappeared," a second auto industry source said about doing a deal with Uber. [...] Earlier this week Mercedes rival BMW said it was considering launching its own ride hailing service in what would amount to a rival business to Uber.
An order of 100,000 Mercedes S-Class cars would cost billions, even with a steep discount. Reuters hasn't removed the reference to the 100,000 Mercedes-Benz cars, as seen above.
(Score: 2) by Unixnut on Monday March 21 2016, @07:59AM
> Same as before
Didn't Uber drivers drive their own cars? Uber didn't provide them with any kind of vehicle themselves, no? That was Uber's main argument for why they should not be regulated like a taxi service, followed closely by the fact they didn't "employ" their drivers in any shape or form. So how would it be same as before?
(Score: 2) by c0lo on Monday March 21 2016, @08:19AM
By the very nonexistence of any self-driving car certified as capable to carry passengers.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=aoFiw2jMy-0
(Score: 5, Informative) by takyon on Monday March 21 2016, @08:28AM
Uber absolutely is providing vehicles to some drivers:
http://qz.com/563622/ubers-new-car-rental-program-for-drivers-doesnt-actually-make-much-financial-sense/ [qz.com]
http://www.theverge.com/2015/12/1/9831364/uber-is-offering-cheap-rental-cars-to-its-denver-drivers [theverge.com]
https://get.uber.com/cl/enterprise/ [uber.com]
There is a startup called HyreCar which tries to do the same thing:
https://www.quora.com/Are-rental-cars-still-not-allowed-to-be-used-for-Uber-and-Lyft-How-could-I-drive-for-Uber-if-I-don%C2%B4t-own-a-car [quora.com]
Uber is more like a monstrous shapeshifting beast that can transform itself to match the reality of the regulatory environment in which it is trying to invade. That's why the app has a slider allowing you to choose from Uber, UberX, UberPool, UberBlack, etc. So when you say "That was Uber's main argument for why they should not be regulated like a taxi service," you have to take into account that Uber is not nearly that monolithic, and is trying to hoodwink regulators on a country or city-by-city basis. In some cities, it is welcomed by politicians as a "sharing economy" savior, and in others, it has multiple methods to either avoid or conform to regulation that would treat it like a taxi service.
[SIG] 10/28/2017: Soylent Upgrade v14 [soylentnews.org]
(Score: 2) by Unixnut on Monday March 21 2016, @10:17AM
Thank you very much for your reply, if I had mod points you would get some. I had no idea Uber had spread so far and in so many directions. It seems they can indeed just weasel out of local regulations that way.
Yet another reason to not support them with my business. Thankfully round my end the established taxi companies, rather than lobbying to ban Uber, just started their own app based cab hailing. So yay for competition!
(Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Monday March 21 2016, @03:22PM
I don't understand how Uber has avoided being considered an employer at least in Washington State. Our Worker's Comp system covers employees and independent contractors where the essence of the contract is personal labor. As for independent cab drivers who lease their vehicles, it has already been decided in WA that those drivers are workers and the cab companies responsible for Industrial Insurance premiums.
In WA, many employers try to escape workers comp by calling their workers "independent contractors" -- except in this state, they are covered if the essence of the contract is personal labor. For example, if you have a crane mounted on a barge that can haul up sunk boats and you get hired by someone, the essence of that contract is the use of the major piece of equipment. If you have a truck and get hired to deliver stuff, the essence of that contract is personal labor.
http://www.leagle.com/decision/198214831WnApp117_1136/ [leagle.com]