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The maintenance cost of 1000 cars owned by one company are most likely going to be less than those of 1000 cars owned by 1000 owners, just through negotiation and bulk maintenance pricing.

Uber is banking on people not switching to whatever other self-driving service comes out, due to being a household name. I don't think very many people outside of SV know what Waymo even is, everyone has taken an Uber though.

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>everyone has taken an Uber though

I think you'd be surprised at Uber's profile outside of some relative bubbles. Pew Research last year said the number of Americans who have never taken an Uber has gone down but it's still something like 36%.

I live 40 miles outside of a major city and near a couple of smaller cities and Uber barely works for me during daytime hours. I couldn't begin to use it for an early morning airport run.

Everyone has heard of Lyft though, and in larger markets Juno. If Uber management is truly banking on brand loyalty of all things, especially based on their behavior, they are idiots. Nobody trusts Uber.

If Waymo arrives with a more cost effective solution, that’s it.

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