You mean their Intel's switch from RAM to CPUs? I have a feeling that something similar might end up happening here too. RAM was too much commoditized and cost-driven. CPUs were more IP driven. Finding a route from A to B with the right driver at a lower cost is cost driven as well. The self-driving car business will most likely have a very different cost structure.

Just the other day I talked to the owner of a taxi company, going through their cost structure. We concluded that, if taxes are included, 90% of their costs can be reduced on a per-trip basis.

It was his opinion that it would make the most sense that the future is some sort of public-private partnership model where the cars are owned by the city, but operated by some SaaS company, in order to get rid of taxes and further reduce costs. Without that tax reduction, he said we would see a similar situation as airplane ticket costs in the EU vs US (3-10x price difference due to taxes). Cities with 5-10x lower individual transport costs would actually have a competitive advantage. In the US this problem should be compounded as cities aren't as much cities as big villages with people thinly spread out. Thos cost reductions become even more important.

It feels like Uber & Lyft are spending money on the wrong problem atm. This is just a transitionary stage in the transportation world.