Uber Driverless Cars

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Capturing Value

Protection

The realization of driverless taxi is based on a complex combination of multidisciplinary[d] knowledges. Although Uber currently does not manufacture hardware, such as sensors and vehicles, it holds key intellectual properties [e]in methods, systems, apparatus and algorithms to build the driverless car.

The strategy Uber adopts to protect its intelligent property is complicated[f]. According to the record from United States Patent and Trademark Office1, Uber h[g]as already patented several of its technologies relevant to automated car.

Ease of Imitation

As for the nature of the technologies, it is not realistic to keep the algorithms secret and hence it is possible to be reverse engineered. Nevertheless, it is immensely difficult to do so, since a huge amount of time, money and talents would be required to imitate such technologies. Therefore, overall we conclude that the appropriability regime of Uber driverless taxi is strong.

The complementary assets for Uber driverless taxi to succeed are various, shown as below:

Feature

Complementary Asset Class

Description

Sensors

Co-specialized

To build a Uber driverless taxi, it requires: a powerful spinning Lidar beam, some less powerful Lidar beam, supplemental radar units, 20 cameras and a radio antennas.

Vehicles

Co-specialized

Uber currently is using vehicles provided by Volvo and Ford to build its driverless taxi.

City infrastructures

Co-specialized

City infrastructure needs to be smartified for the safety and convenience of driverless taxi. Uber is cooperating institutes (e.g. Carnegie Mellon University) to work on such subject.

Ride-hauling platform

Specialized

Uber itself owns a worldwide ride-hauling platform.

Customer data

Specialized

Uber itself owns an enormous amount of customer data.

(As the appropriability regime is strong and most of the complementary assets are specialized, Uber should choose contractual mode)

Life Cycle Phase

In August 2016 Uber rolled out their first batch of driverless taxis on road in Pittsburgh. Another driverless taxi company NuTonomy claimed that it hopes to have 100 driverless taxis in Singapore by 2018. On the whole, the market until now is still in the ‘test phase’.

Due to the lack of customer data and feedback on hands-on experience of taking a driverless taxi, none of the online ride-hauling companies, including Uber, Didi, Lyft et cetera, have a clue on what the paradigm of the driverless taxi service should be designed. Hence the driverless taxi service is in the pre-paradigmatic phase.

Other Parties

As Uber, for now, is not manufacturing any hardware, the sensor makers and vehicle providers such as Volvo and Ford would benefit from the cooperation with it. With driverless taxis taking on the streets, the pressure to smartify the city infrastructure will grow. Hence more opportunities are expected to be created for construction companies and workers.

Furthermore, Uber is expecting their automated cars on road 24 hours a day. The prices are estimated to be dropped as Uber expands the market and lower the labour cost. Customers would hence benefit from lower fare and 24-hour service.

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Competition

Introduction

Autonomous car technology has progressed significantly over the past years.

Competitor[h]s

Google is the recognised pioneer in the technology, starting its research in 2009 and now has built its own self-driving car from scratch. Approximately 2.2 million miles in fully autonomous mode has been completed with supervision, with only 24 minor accidents occurring of which 1 was recognised as Google’s fault. [i]

After Google’s first foray into the sector, car manufacturers have started to invest in and develop the technology. The vehicle brand which is recognised as the face of recent advances in car technologies is Tesla. The innovative company has offered viable electric vehicles to the market and successfully developed a semi-autonomous Autopilot system. Tesla’s aim is also to develop a fully autonomous car and the CEO, Elon Musk, has stated this should be achieved by 2018 and approved by 2021. Tesla has significant brand power, evidenced by its latest vehicle the Tesla 3, being the most pre-ordered car in history, with 400,000 orders. Unlike Uber and Google, Tesla is favouring an incremental approach to achieving a fully autonomous car. This is hoped to be achieved by updating software periodically in tandem with data received off each of its functioning vehicles, which represents a huge advantage over competitors as they have approximately 100 million miles of data with Autopilot active. The biggest concern for Uber is that Musk has stated in his ‘Master Plan: Part Deux’ that Tesla will offer a ride sharing feature when full autonomy is reached, especially in urban centres.

Major car manufacturers, ranging from Toyota to Mercedes Benz, are vying for the same incremental approach: developing electric vehicles with the goal of being fully autonomous within the next decade. This represents an advantage for Uber as they could be potential suppliers for the vehicles used for their driverless taxi fleet and are not direct competitors. However, some manufacturers such as Ford and BMW are investing in the shared mobility segment setting up their own companies such as Ford Smart Mobility and BMW DriveNow, both expanding the business m[j]odel of each respective corporation

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