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Significantly more than half of your ride fare on Uber goes to the driver - between 70 and 130%. Human costs are vastly the most expensive part of hailing a rid

Significantly more than half of your ride fare on Uber goes to the driver - between 70 and 130%. Human costs are vastly the most expensive part of hailing a ride, and will remain so as long as minimum wage exists. The same argument for human drivers also applies to human dishwashers and human launderers, and yet, most of us are fine using machines for this purpose. Whether or not this will cause financial disaster for people relying on it for a source of income is irrelevant when replacing jobs with technology.

aidenn0 6y ago
But what fraction of the money that goes to the driver is spent on depreciation and maintenance?
- sudosysgen 6y ago
  Don't forget insurance/liability, gas, security, and cleaning up after passengers, too!
- michaelt 6y ago
  In my country, the government's "generous, all things considered" cost of operating a private car* is 45p per mile - which covers not just fuel, but also depreciation, insurance and suchlike. Meanwhile, a 12-minute, 4 mile Uber journey would cost me £2.43/mile Of course, the big unknown here is one of driver utilisation: How many miles does the driver drive to pick me up, and how many minutes are they waiting for the next ride to come in? * Well, it was considered generous the last time I asked a car owner about it. I'm sure a Lamborghini costs more.
- twic 6y ago
  Here's one breakdown: https://uberdriverlondon.co.uk/is-it-worth-driving-for-uber-in-london/ https://uberdriverlondon.co.uk/is-it-worth-driving-for-uber-... I think the interesting number there is 23 000 GBP/year, which is effectively the cost to Uber of having a human driver for one car operating 60 hours per week. If a computer can drive a car for 60 hours a week, it saves money for Uber if the amortized cost is less than 23 000 GBP/yr. If a computer can drive a car for more than 60 hours a week, it saves money even if it costs more than 23 000 GBP/yr, although i don't think it's linear - demand is concentrated at a few times of day, so one car on the road 24 hours a day is not equivalent o four cars on the road for six hours each.
throwawayzRUU6f 6y ago
The statistics, based on https://www.marketwatch.com/story/this-is-how-much-uber-drivers-really-make-2018-05-15 https://www.marketwatch.com/story/this-is-how-much-uber-driv... > Uber drivers typically collect $24.77 per hour > From that, Uber takes $8.33 in commissions and fees > Vehicle expenses like gas and maintenance cost drivers about $4.87 per hour > That leaves drivers with $11.77 per hour Now, the maintenance and amortization will be higher for autonomous vehicles. Somebody will need to clean these vehicles, scrape the ice off, refuel, monitor them, deal with anomalies and false alarms, etc - all of which is now taken care of by the driver. Autonomous vehicles will likely end up being cheaper, but it's not as clear cut.
- freeone3000 6y ago
  At $11.77 per hour, if you have to hire one person to handle all of that for every two vehicles, it's still a huge savings. It would take a very false-alarm-heavy system to require that level of attention.

aidenn0 6y ago

But what fraction of the money that goes to the driver is spent on depreciation and maintenance?

sudosysgen 6y ago
Don't forget insurance/liability, gas, security, and cleaning up after passengers, too!
michaelt 6y ago
In my country, the government's "generous, all things considered" cost of operating a private car* is 45p per mile - which covers not just fuel, but also depreciation, insurance and suchlike. Meanwhile, a 12-minute, 4 mile Uber journey would cost me £2.43/mile Of course, the big unknown here is one of driver utilisation: How many miles does the driver drive to pick me up, and how many minutes are they waiting for the next ride to come in? * Well, it was considered generous the last time I asked a car owner about it. I'm sure a Lamborghini costs more.
twic 6y ago
Here's one breakdown: https://uberdriverlondon.co.uk/is-it-worth-driving-for-uber-in-london/ https://uberdriverlondon.co.uk/is-it-worth-driving-for-uber-... I think the interesting number there is 23 000 GBP/year, which is effectively the cost to Uber of having a human driver for one car operating 60 hours per week. If a computer can drive a car for 60 hours a week, it saves money for Uber if the amortized cost is less than 23 000 GBP/yr. If a computer can drive a car for more than 60 hours a week, it saves money even if it costs more than 23 000 GBP/yr, although i don't think it's linear - demand is concentrated at a few times of day, so one car on the road 24 hours a day is not equivalent o four cars on the road for six hours each.

throwawayzRUU6f 6y ago

The statistics, based on https://www.marketwatch.com/story/this-is-how-much-uber-drivers-really-make-2018-05-15 https://www.marketwatch.com/story/this-is-how-much-uber-driv... > Uber drivers typically collect $24.77 per hour > From that, Uber takes $8.33 in commissions and fees > Vehicle expenses like gas and maintenance cost drivers about $4.87 per hour > That leaves drivers with $11.77 per hour Now, the maintenance and amortization will be higher for autonomous vehicles. Somebody will need to clean these vehicles, scrape the ice off, refuel, monitor them, deal with anomalies and false alarms, etc - all of which is now taken care of by the driver. Autonomous vehicles will likely end up being cheaper, but it's not as clear cut.

freeone3000 6y ago
At $11.77 per hour, if you have to hire one person to handle all of that for every two vehicles, it's still a huge savings. It would take a very false-alarm-heavy system to require that level of attention.