[qgin]

There’s a still-untested possibility that Uber / Lyft / DoorDash can become profitable when autonomous vehicles scale out and they can stop paying humans for labor and the use of their private vehicles. Hard to model the economics accurately since it’s still so early.

[mstipetic]

Company that owns that technology doesn't need Uber.

[qgin]

That’s definitely Uber’s biggest obstacle.

But in some ways, until autonomous vehicles can go everywhere, they need a blend of autonomous cars and human-driven cars to be the first stop app for rides. Then they can route an autonomous car or human driven car depending on the ride needed.

Otherwise riders will hit a wall if they request a ride outside the autonomous service zone.

[wmf]

That's why Uber was trying to develop their own self-driving tech. They knew that's where the value lies (if it works).