[whatshisface]

The first self-driving car deployment could be someone who buys a single car and uses Uber and Lyft as pre-made customer-finding platforms. If self-driving cars become cheaper than humans by enough of a margin for cab companies, then quick movers with capital can work with Uber or Lyft to deploy a self-driving micro-fleet of their own. It would be a great way to park your money, a much cheaper version of buying lease properties or fast food franchises.

[bunderbunder]

But not, I think, cheaper than a cab company setting up their own fleet.

Being a bigger player, a cab company is better-positioned to take advantage of what few economies of scale exist in this space: The power to negotiate a lower per-unit cost, and the ability to operate your own garage so you don't have to pay retail prices for maintenance and repairs.

The cab company would also be the more vertically integrated option, which gives them additional opportunities to economise and pass the savings on to the customer.

[cercatrova]

Tesla has stated that this is exactly what they would allow customers to do, rent out their self driving cars when not in use to generate revenue for the customer and I assume Tesla would take a cut as well.