Re: I'm not sure I see how they get to profitability
Not disagreeing with you one bit. Ubers self-drive vehicles are a "hail Mary" product - if it comes off, they win but I can't see it happening.
Uber just depends on SOMEONE's self drive vehicles coming to market - they have the customers, the market presence in key locations and the market cap to quickly roll out new vehicles.
Lyft is in a similar position, but I would say they are likely to be complimentary rather than a winner and a loser in the early years.
Which just leaves self-drive cars... I'd say money invested in Uber/Lyft is safer than bitcoin...
