Uber Investors Claim Mobile Car Service App Is Worth $17 Billion, CEO Would Love To Do Self Driving Cars

Uber investors are claiming the mobile care service app is worth an astounding $17 billion. To put this in perspective, Facebook was estimated to be worth around $50 billion by Goldman Sachs before the company went public with its stock.

In a related report by The Inquisitr, some experts believe it’s possible for a mobile app to hack a car’s internal systems, which could lead to a crash in a worst case scenario. This actually is not too surprising since one inventor figured out how to use Android to take over commercial jets from the ground and control them like you would a video game.

Of course, Uber investors are focusing on how the app may safely provide point to point transportation via a mobile app. There’s even controversy over what to call it since it’s technically not exactly the same as traditional car-service competitors like Avis and Hertz. Some have called Uber a “transportation network company” while others says it’s a “transportation network provider.” Uber CEO Travis Kalanick does not want to limit the scope of Uber and simply calls it a “platform” and not merely a “transportation provider.”

This is actually a good point since even Facebook started merely as a way to find old friends from your high school yearbook. I know I’m dating myself but I recall how limited the original Facebook platform was when it began, so it is possible Uber investors may be right about its value in the long term.

Speaking of which, this is what the Washington Post says about what Uber investors are claiming:

“Uber announced Friday that had just raised $1.2 billion in new funding from investors who valued the four-year-old company at $17 billion. When the current fund-raising round is done, Uber says it expects to total $1.4 billion in new funds, effectively quadrupling its valuation from what it was just last summer. Among tech start-ups, only Facebook has raised capital at a more impressive clip.”

Kalanick is in love with the idea of self-driving vehicles and he believes human drivers will be replaced by AI robots. Kalanick claims that driverless Uber cars could make the cost of rides so affordable that many people may choose to give up owning a car:

“The reason Uber could be expensive is you’re paying for the other dude in the car. When there is no other dude in the car, the cost of taking an Uber anywhere is cheaper. Even on a road trip.”

Corey Owens, Uber’s head of global public policy, says Uber investors are right to value the company so highly since they plan on expanding in new directions by using their logistics systems to transport physical items, not just people. Owens also has this to say to critics that the Uber app is currently limited to those with credit cards and smartphones:

“We wouldn’t have a viable business if cellphone penetration wasn’t approaching 100 percent in the United States. And credit cards – that’s an arc-of-history problem, where eventually we will get to a place where, regardless of payment method, anyone can use the service. You’ll have more and more people who are banked, and Uber will figure out other payment options.”

Do you think Uber investors are correct to value the company at $17 billion?