Yeah, but Walmart really can claim that it has direct and viable competitors, right? Who could google point to? Not a lot of mom and pops out there with a small corner store specializing in driverless-car-mapping.
Totally agree. My whole point is that the implications of Google's method are pretty much the definition of "disruptive." There's no real way to predict how this will play out. The conventional view has been "computers are getting smart enough that we won't need to drive anymore." This article (thanks) illustrates that it's more accurate to say "Google wants to be your chauffeur and are willing to turn the entire world into a toll road to do it."
What's interesting is that unlike Walmart (not a lot of love from the high brow) most people will be applauding Googles acquisition of what will become a ubiquitously used product and will not think twice about the implications. Walmart = Evil! Google = innovative :) It will be interesting to see where this leads. I for one cannot wait until I can turn the reigns over to a reliable program to drive for me. It would give me back hours of work time. Side note: Have a spare hour tonight and I plan to send you some files!!