Tangentially, but I'm wondering how the calculations really go with the robo-taxis. Taxidrivers here are probably getting $5/h or so and it's a job you can get without any skills at all, you don't need to speak the language and you don't need any tests, you just need to be able to sit down, input stuff on a GPS and drive. So there's an infinity of people to employ if you're a cab company. Neither Waymo nor Tesla want to give the tech away for free. Is there a market (without corporate subsidies from Waymo etc)?
It works out pretty well in theory. Even at minimum wage the cost of the driver is a lot of the cost of the taxi ride. It does all hinge on the cost of the vehicles + the cost of monitoring + the cost of maintenance being low enough to offset this though. Cost of vehicle is higher in the case of waymo but even 3x the cost is still useful, cost of monitoring is probably still a bit high at the moment but is the main thrust of improving the tech, and maintenance is not necessarily much worse than a normal taxi.
