Why couldn't companies that actually produce cars just rent them out? I'd really like to have a mono-brand short-term rentals, but they just don't exist. Why is the case different for taxis?
Currently renting cars could be seen as a distraction from car makers core business. The idea is self driving taxis becoming so cheap owning a car will be uneconomical. In other words they drastically have to revamp their sales product anyway. Worst case they'll be a the whim of very few big ai taxi companies... so cutting them out in the first place seems quite realistic.