Wednesday, September 6, 2023

Uber quits

Haven't seen much in the news about self-driving research lately. As the technology gets closer to the goal, it becomes more difficult. The closer they get to Level 5 (perfect performance, to the point that you can sleep while your car takes you somewhere), the harder it is to go further.

At some point in any pursuit, you have to evaluate whether the goal is still worth the resources you must pour into it. Uber, the ride-sharing company, did that and sold off their self-driving unit in December of 2020. 

Five hundred million dollars - $500,000,000 - was what the unit cost them every year. The total cost of their effort to achieve the goal of autonomous cars was about $2 billion, what some call a total waste of money.

The company has started to make an operating profit, at last.

from Mind Matters

No comments:

Post a Comment