[hugh4]

Sharing rides with strangers is precisely the kind of thing that I'd hope to avoid by replacing public transport with self-driving cars.

But anyway, yes, it does appear that the economics of the self-driving taxi beat the economics of the bus or the train, especially given that buses and trains generally operate at a large loss and still charge people, on average, a higher fare than what they'd pay for a self-driving taxi.

A self-driving bus that operates a route could be even cheaper, but why bother when you can hail a cab to take you straight to your destination without stops for just a few tens of cents more?

[petra]

I can imagine a self-driving taxi , for shared rides, that's designed for privacy , so you don't feel like riding with others, except for a bit of an extended trip.

I wonder why nobody have build such a car yet, but there's good likelihood it will happen in a huge self driving market.

[kps]

When all cars are self-driving, small single-person cars are a realistic option.