The only escape for Uber imagined by Kalanick was to delete drivers and their wages from the picture through the development of autonomous vehicles. But it is increasingly clear that this is another massive gamble that Uber cannot win, at least not in time to save itself. Most experts, including those previously bullish on self-driving technology such as the Economist magazine, have recognized that autonomous vehicles are at least 20 years from fruition.
Maybe it sinks in just quickly enough to stop the state from making tons of policy decisions based on a fantasy, which is the only reason I've ever cared about this, especially as even if they worked, the self-driving car fantasy of removing the need for mass transit was dumber than than the idea that they would work in the first place...