I can see this market playing out to be an oligopoly not a monopoly. - Very high barrier to entry. You need $X of development costs, and $Y on traffic/mapping

I can see this market playing out to be an oligopoly not a monopoly. - Very high barrier to entry. You need $X of development costs, and $Y on traffic/mapping data. Anyone with money can get those. - Self driving cars have limited economies of scale. * Self driving taxis get better (less wait time) as their density goes up, to a point. Today Uber and Lyft are both dense enough in SF for me to not care which one I use. * Self driving cars get safer as you collect more driving data. Safer self driving cars are better up to a point. Safety matters a lot now, since cars are unsafe. On the other hand I don't care if Boeings are 2x as safe as Airbuses, both are safe enough for me. If you can make your self driving car safe enough, I'll buy it. To make your self driving car safe enough, you need to spend $X on developement and testing and $Y on really good maps.