[josephlord]

Not read the Tesla piece but at least with the Uber piece the assumptions were clearly stated so they can be challenged.

One challenge I would make to this article's assumptions is that the world is like San Francisco. In many places there are already cheap private hire options available[0]. I'm not sure how to calculate for the existing cost and availability of such options. If it makes sense for the drivers they may become Uber drivers but there may be less decrease in car ownership and changes in customer behaviour.

[0] Minicabs, rickshaws etc.

[PinguTS]

To add to that, what about those cities where you have also a good public transport in place like NYC, Lodon, Paris, Berlin and many more? Where it is may be comfortable to use such a service, but also more expansive and more slower (because of traffic jam).

[vidarh]

London not only have good public transport and horribly slow/congested roads in the centre. We also have cheap minicabs, Hailo, and at least one "Uber-like" that contracts minicab companies rather than individual drivers. And many of the larger minicab fleets seems fairly similar to Uber in the way they operate as well.

(We also have rickshaws; mostly as a tourist novelty, though)

Doesn't mean they can't do well here too, but certainly a different proposition to one where they only competes against normal taxis.