Drummond given the cold shoulder by the Uber team!

The growing Competition- Alphabet vs. Uber

For over a year now, both Alphabet Inc and Uber have been working on their own developments of self-driving cars. Uber recently announced the start of its self-driven car service, while Alphabet for years has been working on this kind of technology, although its focus has been on a much more radical, steering wheel-less cruiser.

With Google specializing in software and machine learning, it seemed like the company was well on its way to becoming a standard for self-driving vehicles, but increasingly Alphabet is finding itself dealing with competition.

With Uber’s news of introducing autonomous car service, it seems that the reality of the two companies becoming direct competitors is getting clearer. Is this the reason behind board member Drummond’s step down?

Drummond’s Involvement

David Carl Drummond is Google’s Senior Vice President of Corporate Development and Chief Legal Officer. He is also the Senior Vice President, Corporate Development, Chief Legal Officer and Secretary of Alphabet Inc. Alphabet’s efforts have been considerably more public on the ongoing work to bring self-driving cars on the road, but throughout both development processes i.e. Alphabet and Uber, Drummond has remained on Uber’s board.

As per various sources, Uber has shut out company board member David Drummond from attending board meetings. This move by Uber does not come as a shock as Drummond’s parallel venture Alphabet is making similar efforts to build a self-driving car and the two companies are increasingly being lined up as direct competitors.

Did Uber make the right move by shunning board member Drummond due to competition? Please share your thoughts in the comments section below:

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