According to a report by KPMG, the car insurance sector will shrink to 40% in the US and car accidents will reduce by 90% in 2040 due to Self-Driving Cars. Other than the insurance sector, autonomous cars have use cases in most of the business industries. Most companies are looking forward to their inventions and use and even so tech giants have adopted the idea.
Considering the situation, there is no doubt Uber has a lot of potential in this area. There are many chances of growth available that will take its business and revenues to great heights in the years to come. Yet, there are problems that uber needs to overcome before it thinks of gaining advantages. Let’s explore what challenges Uber self-driving cars are facing right now and those difficulties that it must consider to make its plan a success:
Advanced Technology
The biggest challenge staring at Uber in the face is the lack of advanced technology needed to bring autonomous cars at least to the level of a human driver. This is an issue that has failed Uber many times and its representatives have also shown concerns about that. The news about Uber cars hitting objects that they couldn’t detect seems like a serious inefficiency of the object-recognition system. Moreover, it also needs to consider a lot of real-life scenarios like jaywalking pedestrians which was reportedly not considered by the company in the making of the car.
The detection and decision-making technology of self-driving cars needs serious work right now. It’s both the issue of hardware and software. More sensitive sensors will be needed to detect objects from a distance – more intelligent software for correctly identifying moving objects on the road – and more efficient help systems to make reasonable decisions that follow the rules. All these features will make these cars better at perceiving the road better than humans and make them safer and useful.
A Lucrative Business Model
Other than providing users and the market with an awesome product. The major focus of Uber is generating revenue. Uber needs to consider all the use cases of autonomous cars and find out companies that might want to collaborate. Doing business is a give-and-take process and no business can succeed without investments and partnerships. Identifying your competitors and allies is the most important step of a business strategy.
Other than partnerships, Uber needs to broaden its focus to include all the opportunities for self-driving cars and build for them too. For instance, the use of autonomous trucks to transfer goods for short distances is a currently growing business. It can be much more lucrative than a Robo-taxi that transfers people.
Affordability
Continuing the business model discussion is the third challenge of Uber for self-driving cars – the cost. The development of autonomous cars by Uber has cost 20 million dollars per month. This is a high rate comparing with the few hundred dollars that users currently pay for users. If Uber wants to make its self-driving cars a success, it must focus on making an efficient and precise car at a reasonable cost.
Conclusion
Uber must make conscious efforts to solve all these problems. If they want to make driver-less cars a commercial product. Furthermore, producing passenger cars that people can buy for their own use.