They said Uber & Lyft (Rideshare) killed Taxi industry. Contrary to that popular belief, I don’t believe that at all. Ridesharing definitely hurt the taxi industry and its monopoly, but killed it? No.
We all had issues with taxis before. It took a very long time to get one and it was very expensive regardless of what kind of car it was. Sometimes they never show up without even telling us after waiting for a long time. Ridesharing solved this issue and now your transportation is more convenient and accessible.
There are plenty of people who still prefer taxis for various reasons. Also, there are plenty of people who don’t have credit cards and have to use cash. In a market like Las Vegas, taxis do have an advantage at the airport, casinos and hotels because they are usually the closest to the building and easily accesible. However, it can take a very long time to get a cab if there is a long line and the town is extremely busy.
If you have the wrong driver to take you to your destination regardless of taxi or ridesharing, it will cost you much more and take much longer. Especially, when your taxi driver is running his time meter on the strip during the most busiest time, it can cost you a lot. Depending on how crazy it is with constructions and traffic, each red light stop can cost you $5 ~ $10. Just remember that not all drivers are the same. Some taxi drivers drive slow in Las Vegas on purpose and take the worst route possible to milk the time meter.
There are numerous self-driving taxis driving around in Las Vegas strip area. You can identify them with all kinds of sensors and cameras around the vehicle. I never got to experience it, but I do know that these vehicles have a person who supervise behind the wheel. Also, they are known to be safe since they don’t exceed the speed limit. However, this can cause a problem on the road since it is usually not safe to disrupt the flow of general traffic and speed. In my opinion as of right now, self-driving taxis are nothing but a traffic congestion booster. Another downside could be that if you are stuck in a traffic jam, the machine cannot maneuver like human drivers to avoid it. FYI, these safety operatiors who supervise behind the wheel are most likely not employees of self-driving technology companies. They are usually hired via 3rd party recruiting agencies.