The conventional wisdom is that self-driving cars will be much cheaper than rideshare, and the only question is when they'll reach level-5 autonomy. But what i

The conventional wisdom is that self-driving cars will be much cheaper than rideshare, and the only question is when they'll reach level-5 autonomy. But what if they're not actually significantly cheaper? Let's say an Uber driver who works 60 hours gets paid $1,200 gross, or $20 per hour. Could the self-driving car drive the same trips with $1,200 lower cost? Not a chance. Because the $1,200 paid to the Uber driver isn't just for the driver's time, it's also for the reduced resale value of the car, and for fuel, and tires, and repairs. And those costs for the self-driving car will be much higher because the self-driving vehicle will be newer, and larger, and loaded with expensive computers and lidar. The self-driving car will also require 24/7 realtime monitoring, and customer support, and a depot staffed with technicians, and a field service team. The IRS rate for deducting business use of a vehicle is $0.58 per mile, not including the driver's time. I'd bet the cost of an autonomous car will be well north of that.