AI safety discussions & robotaxis
My take on the recent interest in AI by politicians
Rideshare
To understand the robotaxi business, let’s take a quick look at rideshare which is the modern and tech-enabled method to mobilize a large fleet of vehicles to offer rides to anyone. Uber and in more general rideshare apps, created a new category because they were the downstream innovation within two major value chains:
- Personal computing
- Personal transportation
Once personal computing was sophisticated and widespread enough to be relied on for moving people (=bits in addition to just bytes), the opportunity was ripe for the innovation to take root and become a reality. The entrepreneurial force behind Uber was the catalyst that made it happen at such a scale with wider impact in many fronts.
The regulatory landscape didn’t have to change too much to adapt to this new reality with the exception of the biggest implication on labor. There were no material technology/product or transportation laws required for such an industry to operate well.
Robotaxi
Rideshare is one aspect of the operational part of the robotaxi business and therefore we are witnessing a huge market take shape at the intersection of…
