This doesn't entirely make sense to me. One of the absolutely beautiful things about the more successful "sharing economy" companies is the degree to which they

This doesn't entirely make sense to me. One of the absolutely beautiful things about the more successful "sharing economy" companies is the degree to which they've been able to provide a highly capital intensive product/service (room accommodations, auto transportation) without having the associated capital costs and risks. The cost of capital acquisition and debt service is a massive barrier to rapid growth and thus multiples/valuation. If a main attribute of Uber is that they run a taxi fleet and its workforce while offloading the expense of owning and maintaining one -- much like Airbnb is a lodging chain that doesn't have to bankroll any real estate -- then that's kind of the point of the model. The idea that changing that fundamental business advantage is the "real" goal seems unpersuasive to me. People who drive cars are likely to be more efficient economically than a self-driving computer for decades at least, if not longer.