Why Are Car Manufacturers Investing in Uber and Lyft?

As you may have heard, car manufacturers are scrambling to buy their way into the good graces of ride-sharing services like Lyft, Uber, and Gett. These companies provide a platform for drivers to connect with people who need a ride – kind of like a freelance taxi-driving. Driver’s use their own cars, and their platform provider gets a cut of every transaction. At first glance, this may seem like an odd investment for a car manufacturer, but we know what they’re up to.  

Autonomous cars are on the horizon

This week, Google bought 100 plug-in hybrid Chrysler Pacificas to use as a base for more autonomous testing at their new facility near Detroit. It feels like just yesterday Google debuted their first driverless vehicle, and now every major car company is boasting about their “autonomous driving technology.” That tells us it won’t be long before we’re surrounded by cars driving autonomously, and even riding in them ourselves.

So…?

Where does ride sharing come into play? In case you haven’t added it up, Uber, Lyft, and Gett are looking to turn their ride sharing service autonomous. Imagine, no creepy drivers or no forced small-talk, just you and the computer all the way to your destination. Maybe the computers will actually keep cold water for their passengers.

It does have some downsides, though. For one, the autonomous cars are really going to kick ride-sharing drivers to the curb. That’s a lot of people out of work. We’re sure these companies will find good ways to reemploy some of their current drivers, but some will suffer, undoubtedly.

Big money

So far, GM has invested $500 million in Lyft, Volkswagen has invested $300 million into Gett, Toyota will be partnered with Uber, and Ford and Google are teaming up to create their own ride-sharing business.

It’s pretty interesting to see how quickly this whole evolution of transportation is happening. Now all you need to do is identify what problems it will present, and create an app to solve those problems. Maybe more games – people are going to need entertainment more than ever.