4 ms·

Cheap taxi could be only if there are cheap cars and cheap (imigrant) labor available.

• cowgoesmoo 1y ago
  Or cheap cars and no labor, which is the entire goal of driverless taxis
  • andreareina 1y ago
    Nothing about autonomous driving—how it's being pitched, the valuations, hardware, etc—suggests it's going to be cheap
    • Gareth321 1y ago
      Really? That appears to be one of the primary applications, and it's discussed in many investor calls re Waymo and Tesla. The driver component in the total cost of taxi service is 60-70%. EVs also have a lower total cost of ownership, and this scales with the number of miles driven because electricity is cheaper than gas. Even if the price of EVs stayed exactly as they are, autonomous taxis would cost 70-80% less than convention taxis. That's a market disrupting drop.
      • ponector 1y ago
        Investor calls have bluff to pump stock prices. Total cost of ownership not always lower, as the depreciation is faster, insurance and repairs costs more. Cheaper than gas? Depends on your electricity source. In my country all taxi are LNG-powered and are cheaper/same per km as electric cars.
• pjmlp 1y ago
  Some parts of the world, like the countryside of many European countries, if you don't own a car, or are unable to drive for for whatever reason, taxi is the only available transport. People help to drive the cost down by sharing taxis on common routes. We have great public transport network, but only if one is lucky enough to live close by to well known cities. Otherwise, you might have a few bus connections through the day if at all, and they might require walking down the village down to the closest stop a few km away.