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You are claiming thay current human driven taxi/ car rides market are making 700 billion dollar profit per year (70B / 10%) They don’t

• ArtTimeInvestor 3y ago
  Not profit. Cost. Using robotaxis is going to cost less than operating your own car. The cost of operating the current car fleet is way higher than $700B. Buying the cars alone is higher. There are 70M new cars on the road each year. At $10,000 per car, that would already be $700B.
  • bagels 3y ago
    Why would it cost less? What is the difference in utility of a robotaxi and a meat taxi besides maybe a reduction in cost per ride (how much is labor vs. non-labor cost), and why isn't everyone using Uber to get everywhere now? The robotaxi vehicle still needs to be manufactured, purchased, financed, maintained, fueled, insured, with room for profit for the robotaxi company. None of these things are free.
    • ArtTimeInvestor 3y ago
      Capacity utilization will make using a robotaxi multiple times cheaper than owning a car. You car stands still most of the time. A robotaxi can drive most of the time. Automation and economies of scale (maintenance, repair, cleaning, charging) will also contribute to the lower cost of a robotaxi fleet compared to privately owned cars.
      • bagels 3y ago
        Why will people choose robotaxi who are not currently using Uber?
        • ArtTimeInvestor 3y ago
          Because the robotaxi arrives faster, is cheaper, safer and more convenient.
          • hef19898 3y ago
            Besides driver breaks, robotaxis are bound by the same constarintsbas normal ones. So no, it won't arrive faster, might (and that is already some claim) be a tad cheaper if you ignore CAPEX, have yet to prove to be safer than humans (so far self druving cars are not, and by a long shot, safer than humans) and convenience doesn't change except for the most, how to put it politely, asocial beings that cannot stand being anywhere near to other human beings, in case of taxis a driver.
            • ArtTimeInvestor 3y ago
              It arrives faster because there are more of them. Every time the density doubles, wait times roughly halve. It is way cheaper because majority of Uber cost is the driver. Safety: https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=38456847 https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=38456847 It is more convenient because it has more space. No drivers seat, steering wheel etc.
              • hef19898 3y ago
                More taxis mean more CAPEx, mean utilization goes down off-peak, bothe of which result in lower profitability. Robot driver or not, basic financials and operational constraints still apply. They can only be ignored for quite a while if a company has endless VC money, unit economics ultimately catch up so, always.
              • aylmao 3y ago
                > It arrives faster because there are more of them I think you’re overestimating how many people will buy Teslas. Also, how many people who own Teslas would robotaxi it. A company might do it as a business, but it’d just take waking up one morning to discover a drunk passenger puked all over your back seat, or fluid remains of someone having sex in there [1] for individual owners to pull out of the program. [1] https://sfstandard.com/2023/08/11/san-francisco-robotaxi-cruise-debauchery/ https://sfstandard.com/2023/08/11/san-francisco-robotaxi-cru...