Uber also has to pay drivers. How much of that $50B goes to the operator?
Meanwhile, for Waymo, a good chunk of it is profit (after the fixed cost of the vehicle, of course).
Meanwhile, for Waymo, a good chunk of it is profit (after the fixed cost of the vehicle, of course).
The most important thing for Waymo is scaling up production of LIDAR and maintaining them efficiently. They will have a massive fleet running very sophisticated radar+computers. That's a huge logistical investment when it's a million cars. Those sensors will break or be damaged.
Uber's CEO compared it to Marriot, people come in to run the hotels in the local region, but they actually don't own the hotels. It's like hired managers who take a cut.
It also makes sense to have people with local experience run them in each local region. But those businesses still involve margins and expenses that have to make sense.