While the question on profitability and margins still exists, I think there are some fairly obvious monetization angles for Google with self-driving cars. A co

While the question on profitability and margins still exists, I think there are some fairly obvious monetization angles for Google with self-driving cars. A couple off the top of my heads: - Freeing up all that additional time lets people use their devices to browse the internet which leads to more ad revenue - Knowing that an AdWords ad engagement results in physically driving a customer to my retail location helps prove the value of "clicks-to-bricks" in a huge way that is worth a lot to big advertisers (speaking from experience). - Licensing the technology and having access to all of that data can be leveraged for some very interesting targeting capabilities. - Defensively, it keeps them in a position of power over auto makers, Tesla, Apple, etc. Also, Google Ventures has a significant investment in Uber, so if Uber succeeds, in some ways Google succeeds.