The Off Topic Topic

[DGuller]

I loved the kraut who lectured me about Evil Amerikkka. While being interviewed by me to come to America to work a bit in stateside offices.

What a maroon.

Did he pass?

[Ed Anger]

I loved the kraut who lectured me about Evil Amerikkka. While being interviewed by me to come to America to work a bit in stateside offices.

What a maroon.

Did he pass?

Not a chance.

[MadImmortalMan]

I'm loving the footage of the European taxi drivers freaking out over Uber.

We must protect our molopolah!!!!   

[DGuller]

I'm loving the footage of the European taxi drivers freaking out over Uber.

We must protect our molopolah!!!!   

I'm really concerned about the safety implications of inventions like Uber.  When you take a cab ride, you know you're getting into a vehicle driven by a maniac with poor driving skills.  Can you still have that level of certainty with carpooling?

[The Larch]

I'm loving the footage of the European taxi drivers freaking out over Uber.

We must protect our molopolah!!!!   

Apparently Uber is now the top downloaded app in Europe today. Great advertising for them. 

Btw, you'll be hard pressed to find a group as despised as taxi drivers over here, they have negative sympathy almost universally.

[Syt]

Taxi services can be rather overpriced over here. Also, taxi drivers often don't earn very well. The companies are skimming off a lot of money, though. So yeah, of course they'll be reluctant to favor a product that costs less and probably leaves more money to the drivers.

[derspiess]

Btw, you'll be hard pressed to find a group as despised as taxi drivers over here, they have negative sympathy almost universally.

Regular taxis usually smell bad.  Uber & Lyft cars tend to be nice & clean in my experience.  Also like paying via the app.  And the 10 free rides I got to start out with

[Grey Fox]

Taxis is not an industry governments should protect.

[Sheilbh]

Btw, you'll be hard pressed to find a group as despised as taxi drivers over here, they have negative sympathy almost universally.

Interesting. Seems to be a fair bit of sympathy for them in London, as well as a sad awareness that they're probably a dying breed now.

[Zanza]

If I had a choice between various countries to go to as an expat, the US wouldn't be among the top ten countries I guess. It's just not as attractive as some other places.

Oh yeah? Well Germany wouldn't make my top 20.

I don't care.

[Zanza]

We'll have self-driving cars in about five years. No one will need taxis or Uber then.

[Valmy]

We'll have self-driving cars in about five years. No one will need taxis or Uber then.

The taxi drivers will go out on strike to protest.

[Valmy]

I don't care.

Germany would be in my top 20 Zanza

[Eddie Teach]

We'll have self-driving cars in about five years. No one will need taxis or Uber then.

People who don't own cars and travelers will still seek private transportation with customizable routing.

[Zanza]

We'll have self-driving cars in about five years. No one will need taxis or Uber then.

People who don't own cars and travelers will still seek private transportation with customizable routing.

I am sure the self-driving cars will have a GPS system to find their way to whatever destination you specify. There will still be taxis, but there won't be drivers anymore. It will just be a rather capital-intensive business to provide a large, convenient fleet of cars. I guess car rental companies like Avis etc., automotive companies or carsharing companies like ZipCar will be best positioned as they know how to manage a big fleet of cars and have the capital to lease that fleet. The advantage of Uber is the size of its network, meaning it has quite a lot of professional and amateur drivers so customers easily find a car on Uber. That advantage is negated if Toyota/Avis/Zipcar just puts 1,000 driverless cars in a city and provides the appropriate app to order them.