They are absolutely excited about the time when self-driving cars will be actually here.
But the real play here is to use taxi service as a pretext/generator for building up an on-demand courier service [1] with superior returns -- and performance that vastly dwarfs any incumbents.
EDIT: after the introduction of courier services, picking up passengers serves as a baseline load [2] (to borrow from electricity distribution terminology) to keep drivers incentivized to be on the roads, but the real prize will be the courier tasks.
But the real play here is to use taxi service as a pretext/generator for building up an on-demand courier service [1] with superior returns -- and performance that vastly dwarfs any incumbents.
[1] https://rush.uber.com/how-it-works
EDIT: after the introduction of courier services, picking up passengers serves as a baseline load [2] (to borrow from electricity distribution terminology) to keep drivers incentivized to be on the roads, but the real prize will be the courier tasks.
[2] https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Base_load_power_plant