Ridesharing companies have been at the center of investments and funds targeting the development of driverless technology. Partnerships have evolved between automakers and ride share companies. We have seen Lyft and General Motors testing self-driving technology; Uber is working with Hyundai and also acquired OTTO – the self-driving truck technology company. Also, Uber recently started its self driving car pickup in Pittsburg.

However, it is apt to note that Uber, Lyft, and other players in the rideshare industry are responsible for the employment of tens of thousands of uber black cardrivers in the U.S. alone. This means that the well-being and survival of about ten thousand drivers, possibly along with their family members are dependent on these ridesharing companies.

So it is important to ponder the fate of rideshare drivers in the face of driverless technology.

You must understand that this fear is not peculiar to rideshare drivers alone. There are other regular companies and private drivers out there that could be affected when driverless cars flood the market.

What Might Change

Discussing this, Digital Trends wrote: “In the short term, there’s no change in the current opportunities for rideshare drivers. There are still years of technical, logistic, and regulatory hurdles to cross before rideshare robot cars appear with no human at the wheel.” However, it is best for drivers to be prepared as we see huge leaps already been made in the advancement of the driverless technology.

Will This Be Just Another Uber Service?

It is also possible that driverless cars will be introduced as a type of Uber service, an option that Uber users can request. Driverless cars could be made available on the Uber Vehicle Marketplace for drivers who want to switch from being drivers to becoming owners and financiers of driverless car fleets. In this case, drivers are carried along in the journey into the driverless cars future.

Although eliminating drivers could increase the profit margin, owning all the cars they need to run their global business is not only unlikely, but also not Uber’s business model. In the end, almost every driver may own a driverless car.

What do you think? Let us know by dropping your thoughts in the comment section below.

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Founded in 2014 by Malik Akande, a former Accenture employee, the Uberkit team is dedicated to maximize the profit and ROI of the entrepreneurial minded uber partner looking for the right components to put together an uber business plan, visit http://www.uberkit.net. The Own an Uber black fleet kit and Grow your UberX Business Kit was designed and developed primarily by Malik Akande for uber partners and drivers looking to give you a true answer to the question: How much do uber drivers make ?

-by Ola John and edited by NkiruEnemchukwu