When the App Starts Driving

The hustle that changed how we move, might soon change who moves us. Millions built an income behind the wheel -- but the wheel might not need hands for long. On this Episode of IDKMYDE, B Daht breaks down a quiet shift that could leave a lot of folks parked for good.

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Episode Transcript

Speaker 1 (00:01):
What's happening to know it alls? Welcome back to another episode.
If I didn't know, maybe you didn't either. I'm your
host B Dots aka King Dots, mister alumni twenty twenty
five at Winston Salem State's University, my alma matere.

Speaker 2 (00:15):
You did what I'm saying.

Speaker 1 (00:16):
And this is a podcast where we learn together, laugh together,
and occasionally we question if robots are gonna take our
jobs or not.

Speaker 2 (00:23):
You did what I'm saying. Listen.

Speaker 1 (00:25):
If this is your first time tuning into the podcast,
please make sure you subscribe on our YouTube. As my
thirteen year old daughter says, make sure you like subscribing comments. Also,
if you're on Instagram, make sure you following the page
I dk myde with an underscore before it and after it.
You did what I'm saying. Now, if this is your
first time, yes, we do have an episode for you.

(00:47):
But we start every episode with three of the most
useless facts you'll never need not a day in life,
and today they're all about Uber drivers. Your first useless facts,
Uber has eight point eight million drivers and couriers worldwide.
That's more than the entire population of New York. Your

(01:08):
second useless fact those eight point eight million drivers completed
eleven billion trips in twenty twenty three, and that's billion
with a B. And your third useless fact about Uber drivers,
a lot of y'all be double dipping. Yeah, yeah, yeah,
yeah yeah. A lot of y'all drive Uber and lyft

(01:29):
at the same damn time. You'll be ubering, you'll be
lifting a time. Those would being three useless facts. Uber's
got eight point eight million drivers worldwide, more than the
entire population of New York City. Those eight point eight
million drivers had eleven billion trips.

Speaker 2 (01:49):
In twenty twenty three.

Speaker 1 (01:50):
And your final useless factor simple, a whole lot of
y'all be out there double dipping in the Uber and
in the lyfting you did. You know what I'm saying.
You gotta keep that app switching thumbs strong, baby switch sweech. Now,
I was a teenager in the nineties, and my children say,
that's in the nineteen hundreds. That's neither here nor there.
But my point is, calling a car back in the
day was reserved for rich folk, white folk. Black folk

(02:13):
wasn't calling no cars like using a car service. But
nowadays everybody's calling cars. Yeah, nowadays, everybody got an app
and a destination. But do you even know how Uber
and lyft even started Because I didn't.

Speaker 2 (02:26):
I didn't know. No, I didn't know. I didn't know.
I didn't know.

Speaker 1 (02:34):
I didn't know. I didn't know.

Speaker 2 (02:37):
I didn't know. Okay, so dig it.

Speaker 1 (02:39):
Uber dropped in two thousand and nine, Lyft dropped in
twenty twelve, And at first, folks were skeptical, like, you
want me to get in a stranger's car on purpose? Yeah,
folks be out there looking like prostitutes looking for their
cars under Yeah, Travis, Yeah that's you. Yeah, that's me
getting a stranger's cars.

Speaker 2 (02:55):
Ridiculous.

Speaker 1 (02:56):
But fast forward a decade and Uber got one hundred
and fifty six million users worldwide. These apps became the hustle.
You got your own whip, you got a job. It's flexible,
it's on your own terms. You can work your nine
to five before you're nine to five, or hell, while
you're on your nine to five during break. You're basically
your own boss. Well, you and the algorithm. See I

(03:20):
got a partner who says, man, I don't clock in,
I just turn on. That's entrepreneurship, right kindall, And to
be honest, it's been a blessing for a lot of people.
Parents who need flexible schedules, college students chasing extra money,
folks that's in between gigs and even retirees trying to
keep busy in cash checks. You control your time, your routes,

(03:42):
your playlists. You the CEO for your own four door sedan.
That's independence on easy mode. Now check this out. In
twenty seventeen, Uber did about three point seven million rides
a boy twenty twenty three over nine billion.

Speaker 2 (03:56):
Now that's growth and takeover.

Speaker 1 (03:58):
Man the gig economy what taxis had for centuries and said, uh, yeah,
we'll do that, but make it Wi Fi please, And
people loved it. Why because convenience always wins. Humans are
lazy by design, and innovation caters to their laziness. You
can argue that Uber and Lyft change transportation the same

(04:19):
way that Spotify changed music. They didn't invent the ride,
they just made it instant. So shout out to every
Uber and Lyft driver as hell does down. I remember
my very first time taking an Uber. I was out
in California with Terrence J and me and my focal.
We had a party with Terrence and Terrence like, yo,
I'm about to go get in my brand new Aston Martin.

(04:39):
Y'all hold on for a second. I got a car
coming for y'all. Like boy, he the seth and asked
the Martin for us, Like, I ain't even been to
Aston Martin. I don't even know how to spell Aston Martin.
I was excited. Next thing I know, a camera pulled up,
as said Terrence, and I look, I guess, I guess
I'm supposed to be tending.

Speaker 2 (04:56):
Yeah, I'm Terrence.

Speaker 1 (04:58):
And we got in the car and the car took
because to where Terrence was at. I remember getting out
of the car being so confused, like, how in the
hell did this man know I was with Terrence?

Speaker 2 (05:08):
And then took me to Terrence? How he did that?
How he knew that?

Speaker 1 (05:13):
And then I'd be very envious of the inventors of
Uber because how high were they to just sit up
there one day and just be like, you know what,
I got an idea. We're gonna have a car company, but.

Speaker 2 (05:30):
We're not gonna own no cars. So we're gonna let
other people.

Speaker 1 (05:35):
Use their cars right, use their gas right, and we're
gonna make buddy from it. It's brilliant, and it was,
but there's a plot twist, because see, while you're driving
your hustle, there's a shift happening. Because see in twenty
twenty five, the US Department of Transportation and the NHTSA.

Speaker 2 (05:59):
That's the now Highway Traffic Safety Administration.

Speaker 1 (06:02):
Yeah, they dropped the autonomous vehicle framework, basically saying, yeah,
we got these cars over here.

Speaker 2 (06:09):
And they ain't got no drivers. That's wild.

Speaker 1 (06:13):
They already tested self driving cars in California, Texas, even Arizona.
I'm sorry, Martin, I just didn't want to go to Arizona.
And companies like waym O, Tesla Cruise, they licking their chops. Oh,
they licking their chops. I can come out the YMCA
and my legs be all yello from working out, and
I don't want to walk to the car.

Speaker 2 (06:34):
So what I do?

Speaker 1 (06:35):
I will summon my Tesla. Come here, Testie, come pick
up your bestie. Now, there's some reports floating around to
say over two hundred thousand autonomous cars could hit the
United States streets by twenty twenty seven. I said, two
hundred thousand self driving cars in the United States by
twenty twenty seven. Your entrepreneurialship is over now, whether the

(06:59):
not mber was exact or not? The direction is clear.
The app aings just sending the car. The app is
the car. Like imagine opening up your Uber app and
the ride pulls up and it's nobody inside.

Speaker 2 (07:13):
No, hey, how's your night?

Speaker 1 (07:15):
No are you being no oox cord negotiations, just silence.

Speaker 2 (07:21):
And a tablet that says, buckle up, human, bruh, what
are we signing up for? I mean, it's convenient, but
it's cold.

Speaker 1 (07:29):
It's the future, but it's also somebody's income disappearing.

Speaker 2 (07:33):
So what do we do?

Speaker 1 (07:34):
Because that's the thing about technology. It solves problems who
are creating new ones to the Uber may travel easy,
but it also made some folks depending on that money
that could vanish overnight.

Speaker 2 (07:46):
So if you're driving now, salute to you.

Speaker 1 (07:49):
Stat that bread, invest some of it, save some of it,
plan ahead, because the same innovation that opened that door
could one day lock it. And listen, you use that platform,
don't let that platform use you, or whatever they said
in Players Club. Matter of fact, let me go to
my sponsors. This episode is brought to you by ghost
Ride Insurance, the only policy that covers your feelings when

(08:12):
your replacement pulls up and ain't got a Pulse ghost
ride insurance, because getting replaced by a robot should at
least come with some roadside assistance. Back to you Dot
listen all jokes aside. The next time you hop in
that uber or lyft, make sure you tip your driver.
They might not be here forever. And I'm not talking
about deceased. I'm talking about the death of a career.

(08:34):
And if you are that driver, keep driving towards your
next destination, even if it ain't on the GPS yet,
because it could be termination. So they got two hundred
thousand autonomous vehicles ready to take your job, and I
didn't know. Maybe you didn't either,