The cost argument seems rather weak to me. It doesn't need to match on price, it needs to be lower, because less service is provided.<p>In the UK, a country with very high fuel taxation, cars are rarely the cheapest option when all costs are accounted for unless you have a particularly odd commute.<p>We also have small cities that generally lend themselves readily to public transportation, cycling, etcetera. (The implementation may be lacking, but the density is there).<p>Yet 75% of households own a car.<p>Plus points of owning a car:<p>Instant availability
Portable persistent storage (not lugging a backpack around everywhere)
Fun
Private (a self-driving car would also be private - but you could own one)
Known-good, can decorate the interior<p>As far as I can see, against all of that, the main inherent advantage of hiring a car as opposed to owning one (self driving or not) is avoiding parking fees and potentially having a higher quality/smoother ride. Maintenance too, but that's just another cost angle outside of clunkers really.<p>Otherwise it's all down to cost against all of the advantages of car ownership.<p>Don't get me wrong, self-driving hired cars are awesome, but I think this idea that ownership will just die is nonsense barring heavy regulation that decides people can't be trusted with maintenance etc.