The reason both are done by Tesla is that there's an economic reason to link electric cars with self-driving. Electric cars are more expensive, depreciate like

The reason both are done by Tesla is that there's an economic reason to link electric cars with self-driving. Electric cars are more expensive, depreciate like other cars, but have powertrains that go a lot more miles before wearing out. As long as these things are true, it makes sense to pile on the miles as fast as you can. Even at cost parity, if obsolescence reduces the car's value fast enough, you still want to rack up the miles to maximize the economic benefit of that powertrain. Self-driving taxis are a great way to do that. There's a climate benefit too. It takes a long time to replace the entire fleet, if you're waiting for people to buy themselves new cars. The more people ride self-driving electric taxis, the faster we lower emissions.