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Comment by flylib | Hacker News Reader

Juno is burning 10's of millions trying to compete on low prices and they are still in NY area only, unlikely local competitors will be able to compete at low prices unless they have a huge war chest which will come from rich founders (Juno) or investors (Uber/Lyft/etc.)

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Well low is relative. I think GPs point was that Uber can never have a real monopoly because eventually they have to operate profitably. Once the base price of a ride settles competitors can still come eat their lunch. Heck I took a taxi in Seattle for the same price as an Uber but the driver actually knew where I was going and how to navigate in traffic.

Driverless cars would throw a big wench into this however.

And only if Uber is the only one coming up with it. If VW/Mercedes/GM/Ford develop driverless vehicles, anybody can build a service based on it (most likely the manufacturers themselves).

The only chance for Uber to survive is to be the first one in that space. I don't see how that can happen with so many companies in advanced development stages.

Is Juno trying to set themselves up to be a national competitor though, or are they trying to stay local? Given that making a basic app to put dots on a map is basically free, I don't see what stops someone from investing a couple million bucks in hopes of getting a small but good return.

yes they are saying they are going to expand nationally for the last 6 months but you can't expand nationally if you are running out of money (check ride sharing forum's where drivers are starting to report sporadic payments from Juno)

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