In the early 1900s when cars became popular, horses quietly retired from public transportation and handed over the reins to the drivers. Ever since then, although the vehicles have undergone continuous development, drivers have remained a constant critical element in the public transportation system. However, this may soon change, given the emerging technological trends.
In December 2014, Google unveiled its first complete prototype for a self-driving car, then on the 2nd of February 2015, Bloomberg posted an article stating that Google was developing its own Uber competitor; a prototype app for hailing self-driving taxis. Uber also announced that it was developing mapping and self-driving car technology in partnership with Carnegie Mellon University.
The news had industry watchers wondering because in August 2013, through Google Ventures, Google had invested over 250 million dollars in Uber. Also since that year David Drummond, Google’s Chief Legal Officer and Senior V.P of corporate development, has been on the Uber board. Adding to the confusion was a tweet from the official Google twitter account @google “We think you’ll find Uber and Lyft work quite well. We use them all the time.” and an article on the Wall Street Journal’s Digit blog which cites an insider who claims that, “ a Google engineer has been testing an internal app that helps Google employees carpool to work, and the app isn’t associated with the company’s driverless car program.”
@business We think you’ll find Uber and Lyft work quite well. We use them all the time.
— Google (@google) February 2, 2015
Since there has been no official declaration of hostilities between both companies, nothing may have changed in their business relationship. One thing that has definitely changed is the amount of research being carried out to actualize self-driving taxis.
With the rise of Uber and other Taxi apps, traditional taxi drivers have been put under pressure; this has led to protests in parts of the world. This is in spite of the fact that these services are creating jobs. Now that Uber’s attention is on self-driving cars those jobs may disappear. In a CNN article, Jeff Holden, Uber’s chief product officer, said “focusing on self-driving car technology serves as an investment in Uber’s future. Why pay a fleet of taxi drivers if the company can build cars that drive themselves?”
So now it’s not a question of if the role of the driver will become obsolete, it’s a question of how soon.