<story><title>Google Has Spent Over $1.1B on Self-Driving Tech</title><url>https://spectrum.ieee.org/cars-that-think/transportation/self-driving/google-has-spent-over-11-billion-on-selfdriving-tech</url></story><parent_chain></parent_chain><comment><author>tuna-piano</author><text>I think by most accounts -&lt;p&gt;1) Google &amp;#x2F; Waymo is by far the furthest ahead in self-driving tech.&lt;p&gt;2) Self-driving is possible in at least certain circumstances in the next decade or two (already is to an extent today).&lt;p&gt;3) Transportation &amp;#x2F; automobiles is an absolutely massive industry.  Even companies like Dana, Inc (maker of axles) have $4bil valuations.  It&amp;#x27;s easy to see how a self-driving tech maker would be worth far more than an axle maker.&lt;p&gt;4) Software tends to be a winner-take-most industry.&lt;p&gt;Given 1-4, $1.1B doesn&amp;#x27;t seem like much.  Even if by chance it doesn&amp;#x27;t turn out to be a positive ROI, it seems crazy to think the $1.1B was a bad bet.&lt;p&gt;And given current prices for self-driving startups (example, Gm&amp;#x27;s acquisition of Cruise for &amp;gt;$1B), the current market value for Waymo would likely be &amp;gt;$10B.</text></comment>
<story><title>Google Has Spent Over $1.1B on Self-Driving Tech</title><url>https://spectrum.ieee.org/cars-that-think/transportation/self-driving/google-has-spent-over-11-billion-on-selfdriving-tech</url></story><parent_chain></parent_chain><comment><author>Fricken</author><text>I wonder if this includes the  &amp;#x27;Fuck you money&amp;#x27; engineers on project Chauffeur received for passing certain milestones. Earlier in the depositions it was disclosed that Levandowski was paid a 120 million dollar bonus, though it wasn&amp;#x27;t revealed how much was given to others on the project.&lt;p&gt;&lt;a href=&quot;https:&amp;#x2F;&amp;#x2F;www.bloomberg.com&amp;#x2F;news&amp;#x2F;articles&amp;#x2F;2017-02-13&amp;#x2F;one-reason-staffers-quit-google-s-car-project-the-company-paid-them-so-much&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;https:&amp;#x2F;&amp;#x2F;www.bloomberg.com&amp;#x2F;news&amp;#x2F;articles&amp;#x2F;2017-02-13&amp;#x2F;one-reaso...&lt;/a&gt;</text></comment>