Google developing competitor to Uber

[Lagmonster]

It's worth mentioning that, unless Raw Shark says otherwise, unattended minors aren't likely a big market. At which point it's not a problem that Google has to solve - people who only provide services through apps have demonstrated that they can make a tidy profit on that model. They also have more freedom to discriminate as they launch, simply because of the time it will take to gain acceptance for the technology itself and thus the limited service in any market they will represent. You won't wake up one morning and find that you can't get anywhere because all the cabbies and bus drivers have been replaced with robots who don't accept cash, but you could find that you can't get a Google Cab because you aren't wealthy enough to have access to internet transactions or old enough to have a credit card.

As for my personal views on cash, full disclosure would involve saying that where I live we are so immersed in e-pay services that my peers and I have had conversations wherein we whine about businesses 'only taking cash' in the same way that a normal person would complain that a neighbour was giving cigarettes to kids.

[Raw Shark]

It's worth mentioning that, unless Raw Shark says otherwise, unattended minors aren't likely a big market. At which point it's not a problem that Google has to solve - people who only provide services through apps have demonstrated that they can make a tidy profit on that model. They also have more freedom to discriminate as they launch, simply because of the time it will take to gain acceptance for the technology itself and thus the limited service in any market they will represent. You won't wake up one morning and find that you can't get anywhere because all the cabbies and bus drivers have been replaced with robots who don't accept cash, but you could find that you can't get a Google Cab because you aren't wealthy enough to have access to internet transactions or old enough to have a credit card.

Agreed that they aren't a big market, but I don't think we should exclude foolish stranded kids as a general thing.

As for my personal views on cash, full disclosure would involve saying that where I live we are so immersed in e-pay services that my peers and I have had conversations wherein we whine about businesses 'only taking cash' in the same way that a normal person would complain that a neighbour was giving cigarettes to kids.

I'm not going to claim that my peers and I have not had similar conversations about services that only take credit.

[Simon_Jester]

Why shouldn't minors be allowed to use a cab? Next you'll tell me they shouldn't use a city bus or a subway.

Not that I'm advocating 6 year olds be allowed to range freely without supervision, but fucking hell, I went to Belgium and France before I was legally adult (I was 17). I can think of a lot of situations where a legal minor could have a good and valid reason to get a ride. Is the average cab driver going to be able to distinguish between a 16 year old and an 18 year old when he or she gets in the car? Is the average cab driver going to give a damn as long as said driver gets paid (and, hopefully, also tipped appropriately)?

For that matter, should they? I mean, generally when someone hires a cab they need that cab ride. What is our hypothetical legal minor supposed to do if they urgently need to get somewhere. They're too young to own a car and maybe too young to drive at all. What are they supposed to do, hitchhike?

"Please, won't somebody think of the children?" That's a pretty poor defense of cash money cabs.

Gee, good thing I'm not defending cash money cabs, or attacking them; I'm agreeing with Broomstick on this specific matter. Which is that children need to travel in emergencies too, and it is at least conceivable that they will be doing so without adult supervision. In which case gratuitously forbidding children to ride in cabs could be actively unsafe and make a bad situation worse.

When I was too young to drive, I didn't have any money either, so getting a cab was out of the question anyway. I usually walked, or rode my bike anywhere I needed to go.

And if I knew a fifteen year old child who truly, urgently needed to leave the place they were in and travel eight or nine miles in bad weather, or just happened to not have a bicycle handy... I wouldn't be telling them they have to walk.

"Cash or credit" is totally irrelevant to something like this, because if cash is truly obsolete we'd give our children emergency debit cards locked to a parental authorization code or something.

[Lagmonster]

Agreed that they aren't a big market, but I don't think we should exclude foolish stranded kids as a general thing.

Absolutely, and that's where you come in. I would think of a Google cab as a 'delivery-order car'. They don't need to be out prowling the streets looking for fares; they can be on the road only if they've been summoned by the app. I mean, cabs and buses co-exist, each serving a different type of commuter, right? I figure there's room for this service as something that co-exists with you, takes a bite out of the profits of both, but doesn't fully replace either (although self-driving buses with a human 'attendant' would be my first choice before private cars, since it must be easier to ask robots to drive set routes and stop at set markers).

As for my personal views on cash, full disclosure would involve saying that where I live we are so immersed in e-pay services that my peers and I have had conversations wherein we whine about businesses 'only taking cash' in the same way that a normal person would complain that a neighbour was giving cigarettes to kids.

I'm not going to claim that my peers and I have not had similar conversations about services that only take credit.

Middle class bullshit, is basically what I'm admitting to. We have a couple of students on co-op here who roll their eyes whenever management can't buy hot dogs at the corner cart vendor.

[bilateralrope]

On the other hand kids these days routinely have smartphones. So how difficult would it be to make it so that you can charge the ride of someones phone bill? I do not think it would be too difficult to make a system that works like that if you get the telephone company on board. And if anyone can do it google can with their monopolistic policies.

Why would they need to get the phone companies on board when the infrastructure to charge people from within a smartphone app already exists ?

As for my personal views on cash, full disclosure would involve saying that where I live we are so immersed in e-pay services that my peers and I have had conversations wherein we whine about businesses 'only taking cash' in the same way that a normal person would complain that a neighbour was giving cigarettes to kids.

Living in New Zealand puts me in a similar situation. The only time I need to use cash is to use a vending machine or to top up my bus card. For everything else, even a $1 purchase at the local dairy, I pay via EFTPOS. For the few things where paying in cash gets a discount, EFTPOS gets the same discount. Taxis take EFTPOS.

It can even work when the network is down, I just need to sign the receipt. Though the only place I've seen that done is on the ferry between the North and South islands. Probably because that's the only place where people will regularly want to buy things while the EFTPOS terminal can't communicate with your bank.

I only use a credit card for buying things online.

New Zealand also doesn't have a tipping culture.

[Gandalf]

Living in New Zealand puts me in a similar situation. The only time I need to use cash is to use a vending machine or to top up my bus card. For everything else, even a $1 purchase at the local dairy, I pay via EFTPOS. For the few things where paying in cash gets a discount, EFTPOS gets the same discount. Taxis take EFTPOS.

Australia is quite similar. We have the "tap and go" payments for debit/credit cards pretty much everywhere, which are faster and more convenient than cash. The only downside is the occasional %2-3 percent surcharge on some credit cards.

New Zealand also doesn't have a tipping culture.

Neither do we, thank fuck. Though some American restaurants here are trying to bring it in.

[Simon_Jester]

I think the credit card companies scored a great and undeserved victory when they got away with stopping vendors from charging me 2% extra to make up for the surcharge the credit card company charges them.

[Purple]

Why would they need to get the phone companies on board when the infrastructure to charge people from within a smartphone app already exists ?

Well I am not sure how app payments work, having newer used them. But if they are tied to some sort of bank account I can imagine there being restrictions as to how children can spend those. Phone credit on the other hand has none of those constraints. So depending on the legal framework which I frankly know nothing about they might be a good substitute for the demographic in question.

[bilateralrope]

I think the credit card companies scored a great and undeserved victory when they got away with stopping vendors from charging me 2% extra to make up for the surcharge the credit card company charges them.

Those fees don't exist for the system New Zealand uses.

Depending on the user's bank, a fee may be charged for use of EFTPOS. Most youth accounts (the minimum age to obtain an Eftpos card from most banks in New Zealand is 13 years) and an increasing number of 'electronic transaction accounts' do not attract fees for electronic transactions, meaning the use of Eftpos by younger generations has become ubiquitous and subsequently cash use has become rare. Typically merchants don't pay fees for transactions, most only having to pay for the equipment rental.

[LaCroix]

Why would they need to get the phone companies on board when the infrastructure to charge people from within a smartphone app already exists ?

Well I am not sure how app payments work, having newer used them. But if they are tied to some sort of bank account I can imagine there being restrictions as to how children can spend those. Phone credit on the other hand has none of those constraints. So depending on the legal framework which I frankly know nothing about they might be a good substitute for the demographic in question.

Usually, you can't access some apps if you don't have a valid credit card number connected to your account. In-app orders are automaticly billed to it, after you press OK on the "Do you really want to buy that for $... it will be billed to your account" popup. That'S the system uber uses, to my knowledge. No app, no card - no service.

Some other services I use - SMS ordered city parking tickets, for example - are added to my phone bill on use .

[Purple]

Some other services I use - SMS ordered city parking tickets, for example - are added to my phone bill on use .

That's the kind of thing I envisioned for this as well. The cab gives you a printout with a code for your transaction and you send a SMS with that code to a GoogleCab number to be billed.

[LaCroix]

Some other services I use - SMS ordered city parking tickets, for example - are added to my phone bill on use .

That's the kind of thing I envisioned for this as well. The cab gives you a printout with a code for your transaction and you send a SMS with that code to a GoogleCab number to be billed.

You don't even have to do that much - you order the cab, and after you get out, it will automatically bill you. No need for a second SMS to do payment, it's like a Credit card fuel pump - you put your card in, enter your pin, and then you pump fuel. The moment you hang the hose back in it's holder, the pump bills your account whatever you rang up till that point. Works fine, I do that all the time.

[salm]

Some online services use phone bill payment and it works quite well. I have bought online articles this way. You simply put in your phone number, the service sends you an sms with a number code which you have to enter on the web site. The service provides a downloadable pdf and bills you via telephone bill.
This obviously has the disadvantage of having to give away your phone number which you might want to avoid.