All this hoopla about self driving robotaxis being the nirvana of insane margins and revenue is all a farce. I said it before and I'll say it again. The robotaxi market today is a money loser and will be until the public gains the trust of the system. IMO the only way to do this is for people to have autonomous driving in their car so reliable that they begin to sleep in their own cars while driving. Only until then they will consider not purchasing their next car and just strictly use the robotaxi service.
I still believe only Tesla is doing it right by giving the masses this technology so people can slowly get use to them and gain that trust that's badly needed to generate revenue. This will take years to change people's psychology and many years in a Tesla or Tesla like system once it reaches at least level 3 in which Tesla is comfortable enough to take responsibility for any crash.
A study showed 76 percent of Americans feel less safe in a self-driving car, while 73 percent feel less safe knowing other cars may be self-driving.
www.teslarati.com
FSD working well somewhere is a likely step along the road to working well everywhere.
There is no Robotaxi business in a city until FSD works well in that city.
People's psychology is entirely dependent on how well the system works, first impressions count, and one bad trip can cancel out 20 good trips, So caution is needed, no need to rush to market before the system is fully ready.
IMO the closest parallel is plane travel, when planes were regularly crashing, it was too early to launch a system for the general public. Priori to flying in a plane, and before air travel was common, many people would have had reservations about flying. When people haven't experienced something, they tend to have a very conservative risk adverse opinion about the unknown.
These days air travel is a big business, but go back in time far enough, I'm sure we can find comments saying that the public will never embrace it.
As things stand, a regulator will need a lot of convincing and the first Robotaxi business might still be a few years away. But once a Robotaxi business works in one city, it is a matter of time before it works everywhere.
If it can be done, Tesla is the company mostly likely to do it, and up to 5 years before any competitor has a similar product.
EDIT: In most urban environments the 15-25 year old age group are likely early adopters of Robotaxis, many will not have a licence, a lot will not own a car, a few will own a reliable car. They are likely to be partying late at night and consuming alcohol, a Tesla Robotaxi will be safer than an inexperienced driver after a few drinks late at night. In a low speed accident in a Tesla, the risk of a serious injury is very low, the safety of the car is a factor.