> There's a lot of noise about "transportation as a service". Remember that Uber loses money, even after squeezing its drivers really hard and making them buy and maintain the cars.

Uber loses money because it pays the drivers - if you eliminate the driver you eliminate most of the cost. And if you can use simpler electric vehicles which are cheaper to drive and maintain, then you have yet another significant advantage.

I don't think anybody knows what exactly will happen, but there is clearly an enormous opportunity. The trucking industry alone in the United States is nearly a trillion dollar market. Of course when you add in all the complexities of actually scaling the business it doesn't become pure profit, but I'd be amazed if you couldn't print money if the technology worked.