That would make sense if Tesla stock hadn’t had the opposite reaction.
As Austro pointed out, Uber and Lyft aren’t likely to have the financing to take on the cost of acquiring and running a fleet like this. Further, Musk’s stated goal for his elusive FSD tech is for car owners to be able to generate passive income by pimping their cars out as taxis when not needed.
If Musk’s pie ever landed from the sky (spoiler: it won’t), then Uber/Lyft maybe could transition to being the summoning app, but that’s the easy part. More likely (as in it ain’t ever happening so this is all bunk) would be that Tesla would monopolize the summoning/navigation functions of Tesla taxis, charging eye-watering subscriptions for such services and/or taking a significant cut of the fare revenue (like Uber/Lyft does now).
Bottom line: Joe Schmo ain’t getting rich off robotaxis.
The market saturation of Teslas on the central CA (affluent) coast and Silicon Valley is quite amazing. It feels like 40%. Not EV’s. Vehicles in total.
I think I’ve said this before, but there’s a running joke out here that there are more Teslas in Napa than at the factory. You can’t swing a dead cat in the Bay Area without hitting one.
Teslas can make fart noises come from any seating position in the car. Rivian: Hold my beer!
For those who don’t want to click the link, it’s someone showing off Rivian dashboard display “skins” that mimic KITT and the BTTF DeLorean. I don’t know if they’re factory or the result of some hack, but they’re fantastic.
ETA: Seems it’s a legit factory update for Halloween. This is a much better look.
I’ve seen more than a handful of them out in the wild (Napa), including one I saw up close when it stopped by the winery. They’re the most ludicrous thing I’ve ever seen on a road.
