The individual car is the most inefficient asset a person owns, sitting idle 98% of the day, and a future where nobody owns cars or holds driver's licenses is inevitable as autonomous vehicles, micromobility, and public transit mature.
Macdonald argues that reaching 500 million users requires driving down the average transaction price, which means expanding beyond premium Uber X into bikes, scooters, trains, and eventually autonomous vehicles — deconstructing car ownership entirely. ✦ AI generated
Andrew Macdonald · 20VC · 2026-08-17 · original ↗
starts at this moment · 16:46
the car the car the individually owned car is the most inefficient asset that anyone owns, and certainly at any level of price point, right? It sits idle 98% of the day. Depreciating. It's depreciating. The ongoing operating costs are actually high, even if you're not driving it, you're paying for that insurance clip. Um which I which is why I do think in some future world, maybe not five years, but 15 or 20 years, everyone's going to be like Harry. Nobody's going to own a car. Nobody's going to have their driver's license because you'll be able to get around. And I think bikes and scooters will be part of that. I think autonomous vehicles will be part of that. I think public transportation will be a big part of that. But I I don't think you need to own a car.
verbatim transcript · starts at 16:46
16:31road? >> Would I? >> Yeah. >> I I To be fair, I I live around the corner. Uh cuz to be fair, I use Uber as an argument every single day cuz I don't have a driver's license cuz I have Uber. >> I love that. >> Uh and my girlfriend has a car that's worth 20 grand, and then insurance is three or four. And I'm like, do you know
16:46how many Ubers I'd have to take to get to 24 grand? >> Totally. I mean, the car the car the individually owned car is the most inefficient asset that anyone owns, and certainly at any level of price point, right? It sits idle 98% of the day. >> Depreciating. >> It's depreciating. The ongoing operating costs are actually high, even if you're not driving it, you're paying for that
17:05insurance clip. Um which I which is why I do think in some future world, maybe not five years, but 15 or 20 years, everyone's going to be like Harry. Nobody's going to own a car. Nobody's going to have their driver's license because you'll be able to get around. And I think bikes and scooters will be part of that. I think autonomous vehicles will be part of that. I think
17:22public transportation will be a big part of that. But I I don't think you need to own a car. >> Now, one way to bring down price is to remove cost, and one way to remove cost is to think about Uber taxis autonomous. Um you said before it was existential. Um why is it existential, and how how do you think about that, and how it changes the business forever?
17:45>> I'm I mean, it's existential because at the end of the day it's a better product than our core product in many use cases. And I think those use cases grow over time, and eventually it's better in all use cases. Um you can quibble along the edges on like current autonomous vehicle experiences, right? In most cases it is it is going to be slower than a human driver. The