This is part of a larger series on major disruptors. You can see the previous post in the series at:

Major Disruptors Section 2

The posts so far have focused on both the gains to be made from driverless car technology and the disruptive effects of that technology on various industries and landscapes. The next post was supposed to be on opportunities from driverless cars rather that disruptions. That post will be along soon but meanwhile lots of people have been asking me about the Uber business model in relation to driverless cars.

Uber has worked by displacing the taxi industry to a certain extent by harnessing unused capacity in vehicles in our communities but also by bypassing regulation and maximising the use of application and location technology. Given that the company has been valued at US$18 billion according to its latest funding round, (Taxi app Uber valued at $18 billion in new funding round) and my view that driverless car technology might be fully implementable in 10 years the question has been how does the company valuation make sense when the model is likely to be completely wiped out?

Firstly I think that the business model does have some short to medium structural problems. It is highly possible that the taxi/driver based car system is the one that will be initially replaced in the implementation of driverless cars. If this becomes clear then I think that Uber will have trouble retaining drivers and gaining new drivers in the transition period before the implementation period becomes practical. Who is going to invest in a vehicle or throw in their job, or turn down a job if they are likely to be replaced in one or two years. This is is similar to the problem that the car manufacturing industry will have close to a full scale implementation that I mentioned in my initial post.

The second issue is one that a lot of companies are facing right now and more will in the future. In a world that is changing more rapidly and where disruptive business models or technologies can turn up from anywhere how do you maintain a strategy and a profitable business model that has longevity? Market valuations are supposedly based on the forward view of cash flows (market irrationality aside). In a world where you business model only lasts for 10 years or less how do you maintain a valuation, especially if those cash flows are negative while you rapidly expand? The only way that Uber can do this is a long term vision of pivoting their business model significantly and that model has to be one of being a significant player in driverless car models. In the meantime they have to maintain a profitable or funded model that makes sense to people. In the longer term the game has to be one of using that platform to accrue a huge amount of data and expertise around customers and their travel requirements. It may seem crazy to have a 10 year plan to expand to hundreds of cities just to create a new business in the future but that is what is necessary in these times for lots of businesses. To me it is the only way that the current valuation makes sense.

What is your business model/strategy to deal with these sorts of issues given that as Gary Hamel has said “somewhere someone is making a bullet with your business’ name on it”.