I think this gets to the heart of Uber's play. They're up against a seemingly endless string of employment-practices lawsuits, and it increasingly looks like t

I think this gets to the heart of Uber's play. They're up against a seemingly endless string of employment-practices lawsuits, and it increasingly looks like they're not going to win. The way out isn't to become a cheaper taxi company, or suddenly overcome entrenched protectionism in a dozen nations. It's to keep pulling in funding and stalling legal battles for just long enough to render the entire argument irrelevant. Driver background checks? No drivers to check on. Driver insurance? No one to insure, sue the manufacturer if you hit something. Employee benefits for drivers? Fire all the employee-contractors. It's obvious that automation is a huge win for Uber. The question is whether they can live long enough to preserver their first-mover advantage, and whether they can find stop-gaps to cover the interim where autonomous cars still need drivers. I wouldn't be surprised if they let licensed passengers get behind the wheel to comply with laws before full autonomy hits.