[dcolkitt]

Why couldn't the same logic work in the post-self-driving future?

If I own a self-driving car that sits in my garage from 8 PM to 8 AM, why not just put it on the Uber network and have it make money while I sleep?

As long as people still own cars, why does Uber ever need to own their own fleet? If anything without the actual pain-in-the-ass of actually having to be a driver, I'd think a lot more people would crowdsource their idle vehicles.

[ghaff]

If a lot of people did that, I'd expect payments to drop to somewhere around the marginal cost of operating the vehicle which is mostly mileage-based. Or below because there's no shortage of people who need money now even if they realize they're basically borrowing money from their future self.

[dragonwriter]

> As long as people still own cars, why does Uber ever need to own their own fleet?

Because when people without cars need cars is correlated with when people with cars are using their cars.

[bluGill]

Who needs a ride from 8pm to 8am? Nobody except drunks. Sure you can send your car out, but you need to plan to get up early every morning to clean the puke out.

Most people follow similar schedules: they go to work at rush hour, ride with co-workers to lunch around noon and then home during the second rush hour. If you are willing to let your car out 6am to 8pm you got some possibilities - but this is when you need/want your car for your own convenience.

[xenospn]

Well, drunks, people who work late shifts, people who are going to/from the airport/train station, etc. But definitely not as many as the rush hour crowd.