I don't know, I think Uber and Lyft are well aware of the progress in self-driving vehicle technology and their actions point more towards them behind involved in the process as opposed to being left in the dust. The only group of people that are "fucked" are the current drivers whose jobs will be automated.
Uber is in a low-margin business where the only way to really increase profit is to screw your customers or employees or both. If self driving cars are supposed to be the company's savior, good luck being the only organization on the planet that can use them. Having lived through Webvan, Groupon, Zynga, and countless others, I see disturbingly similar patterns in Uber.
Let's see:
> Let's say that's true; the folks at Google are smart and they'll figure out artificial intelligence. Why does anyone think Google will be able to maintain an advantage with that? What's to stop anyone from buying artificial intelligence tools and opening their own AI service? How does the whole industry not become a race to the bottom? Hell, given the price wars going on now, I'd argue it already has.
> Let's say that's true; the folks at Apple are smart and they'll figure out personal computers. Why does anyone think Apple will be able to maintain an advantage with that? What's to stop anyone from buying some computer parts and opening their own computer store? How does the whole industry not become a race to the bottom? Hell, given the price wars going on now, I'd argue it already has.
> Let's say that's true; the folks at SpaceX are smart and they'll figure out re-usable rockets. Why does anyone think SpaceX will be able to maintain an advantage with that? What's to stop anyone from buying some re-usable rockets and opening their own space travel agency? How does the whole industry not become a race to the bottom? Hell, given the price wars going on now, I'd argue it already has.
Apple: The whole industry has become a race to the bottom, except for Apple which has built a phenomenal brand (also see Nike for example of a valuable brand). I don't think the Uber brand is worth all that much.
SpaceX: I think it's fair to say setting up a rocket company has significantly higher barriers to entry than building a taxi dispatching app.
But Groupon I think fits:
Let's say that's true; the folks at Groupon are smart and they'll figure out online coupons. Why does anyone think Groupon will be able to maintain an advantage with that? What's to stop anyone from hiring some web developers and opening their own daily deals website? How does the whole industry not become a race to the bottom? Hell, given the price wars going on now, I'd argue it already has.
In the case of Uber, I'm arguing that the barrier to entry for other companies will be buying several cars in a retail market, because various manufacturers will be selling them.