> Overhead is the wrong metric. Depreciation over fixed costs, marginal variable cost (e.g. fuel, oil, etc), and opportunity cost are what you want to look at.

> Overhead is the wrong metric. Depreciation over fixed costs, marginal variable cost (e.g. fuel, oil, etc), and opportunity cost are what you want to look at. If you use a car more it wears out faster and needs to be replaced sooner. It needs more fuel and more frequent preventative maintenance. Sure, but you also need less cars, and the cars can be more specialized (i.e., smaller on average). Two 1500kg cars travelling 10km each, might be replaced by one 750kg robotaxi travelling 20km. Overall a significant reduction in fuel for the same two journeys. And then there's the question of whether it's cheaper to have one car traveling 100,000km over 5 years, or two cars travelling 50,000km over 5 years. My guess is that fewer cars travelling further would be less expensive in most cases. > Who cleans up the car when a drunk stranger pukes in it while you are sleeping? > > Who fuels it or charges it? You'd hire someone to do it? The same way it works with rental cars or taxis today. That's part of the overhead I mean: is it more efficient for companies to maintain a specialized fleet of robotaxis, or for individuals to maintain a far larger fleet of generalized vehicles?