VCs are just paying for rides until self-driving cars get to the point that drivers are no longer needed.

I'm not concerned with the price of rides increasing, I'm concerned with the unemployment our country is going to get punched in the face with. Between cab drivers and OTR (truckers), we're going to have a MUCH bigger problem on our hands than we've seen since Detroit collapsed (which was arguably less of an issue since it occurred over a longer period of time).

VCs are needed until a self-driving car can pick an elderly passenger at the airport and help them with their baggage when they get home.

Uber will run out of money long before we have self-driving cars.

There have been services to help elderly people get their bags in and out of the car at the airport for literally decades.

As for "at their home" - if you think that the cross section of elderly people who:

Can't lift their bag into a car.

Travel frequently.

Have no friends or family to help.

Have no neighbors to help.

Don't live in assisted living.

Is enough to sustain the industry, I think you're in for a rude awakening.

> VCs are needed until a self-driving car can pick an elderly passenger at the airport and help them with their baggage when they get home.

This is a very good point. Also consider that many more people need help with groceries than with luggage.

Just call the "Human Uber" service instead, which will come with a pair of hands. I doubt that's more than 5% of their market, so it justifies having a differentiated price for the extra help you get.

I can't see why they're can't be a uber human driver option or you can simply ask from a cart boy to help with groceries.

Heck, with amazon groceries and other similar services, why do they even need to go to the store?

The people will just move back to the forests and the mountains. The rivers will be their roads, paths their sidewalks, trees their grocery stores, and grubs their food.

With Uber, Lyft, and other ride-sharing services, I would say there is more employed in the "move people from A to B" business now than ever before. The mobile apps increased the supply of drivers and captured the market demand for convenient and cheaper rides.

Self-driving would take away a big chunk of that market, but estimates vary on when that becomes a reality. With every major technology improvement, there were massive employment and social shifts. Wars and revolutions were often side effects. However, I don't think the percentage of the population engaged in the taxicab and trucking industries are enough to destabilize society. By its nature, the employees in that business are often transitory. Perhaps there will be legislation to force self-driving vehicles such as taxicabs and commercial trucks to keep a human "driver" to supervise and assist when the vehicle gets into situations outside of its programming.

True, but in cities with medallions supply was effectively restricted which probably had an influence on prices. That probably wont happen under a rideshare system.