Self driving is to Tesla as StarLink is to SpaceX. Go where the margins are fat. The market for cars (which sit idle 90% of the time) is much smaller than that for total passenger transportation miles. The market for launches is much smaller than satellite broadband services.

Cars sitting idle 90% of the time is a feature. If my car was utilized 100% of the time then it would wear out within a single year.

Which would be great.

Putting capital into something that can only be extracted years later is a poor investment.

The sooner you can get the benefits of an investment, the sooner you can invest in the next thing, and the less return the investment has to give to be competitive.

Exactly. Southwest Airlines doesn’t think “these darn planes are in the air too much!”. Every minute you’re not flying is lost revenue on a depreciating asset. Keep the metal moving. Unproductive assets is no different than lighting money on fire.