Greg's Corner

Google set to take on Uber and will probably win

Google has recently made public their own plans to start a ride sharing service not too dissimilar from Uber. Rather than have a fleet of drivers, the Google program will have volunteers who will drive people going in the same direction as them, so it’s more like a hitchhiking program than a ride sharing program, but it still cuts into Uber’s market share and reportedly at a lower price.

Normally, this would be a good thing as competition usually breeds innovation, that’s not always the case when it comes to the search giant, they usually have a more of a scorched earth policy. Think of all the products that Google got into late in the game like search, email and maps. They took these products that many others had been doing for years, perfected them, and crushed the competition. No one uses Altavista or Mapquest anymore, and when Gmail users see that one of their friends still uses Yahoo mail they tend to roll their eyes at the address.

While Google’s proposed program might vary differently from Uber’s it could only be a matter of time before Google perfects the ride sharing experience and Uber becomes the butt of tech based humor, much like MySpace became after the dawn of Facebook.