> Waymo doesn't have this cost, so it's effectively ~$25/hr cheaper to operate than Uber/Lyft.

Waymo has other costs, such as engineering driverless operation.

Engineering costs are capital/fixed costs, they're paid once to develop the technology and don't scale with the number of trips. Operating costs (which is what I'm discussing here) are what it actually costs to run each ride. Waymo's marginal cost per trip doesn't include a chunk of some engineer's salary.

Once there are enough trips, the fixed engineering costs are spread across more and more trips, exponentially trending towards zero, driving the cost per trip even lower.

	▲	anvuong 3 hours ago \| parent \| next [-]
		But then Uber/Lyft total cost doesn't need to account for the vehicles.
	▲	mmooss 6 hours ago \| parent \| prev [-]
		Machines require maintenance, repairs, upgrades. Also, Waymo hasn't fired all their engineers for some reason, so those costs are not one-time.