According to TechCrunch, Zimmer said he “can’t imagine anytime in the next decade-plus where we would need any less drivers”. He noted that he envisions autonomous vehicles handling anywhere from 1 per cent to 10 per cent of rides in the future.

“What we do in our industry represents maybe 1 per cent of vehicle miles traveled,” Zimmer was quoted as saying.

“There is much more room for growth of our overall business,” he added.

Over the past decade, more than 112 million Lyft riders have taken over 3 billion rides, and 5 million drivers — “3 per cent of the US workforce,” Zimmer said.

As per the report, Zimmer was hesitant to commit to a timeline on which he thinks autonomous vehicles will enter into broader commercial service.

“I always think it’s just a couple years away, but it’s super hard to predict,” he said.

“It’s this last percent of a technical problem, and then you have to get the cost down for autonomous vehicles. So it will happen. I strongly believe it’s not a matter of if, but obviously when,” he added.

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