“When There Is No Other Dude In The Car, The Cost of Taking An Uber Anywhere Is Cheaper”

You can’t blame the CEO of Uber for not trying to fight the advent of driverless cars–he wouldn’t win that war. But like the rest of us, he probably should be a little concerned about the job loss caused by the market disruption. From Nicholas Carlson at Business Insider:

“Uber CEO Travis Kalanick sat for a keynote interview at Code Conference this afternoon in Southern California.

During the interview, Code editor Kara Swisher asked Kalanick what he thinks of self-driving cars.

‘Love it. All day long,’ said Kalanick.

‘The reason Uber could be expensive is you’re paying for the other dude in the car. When there is no other dude in the car, the cost of taking an Uber anywhere is cheaper. Even on a road trip.’

Kalanick said that self-driving cars ordered up through a service like Uber will eventually bring the cost of ridership so far down that car ownership will ‘go away.’

He said self-driving Uber fleets will also be safer and ‘more environmentally friendly.’

Obviously lots of Uber drivers will lose their jobs over time if this vision comes to life. Kalanick is OK with that.”

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