Below is the latest in a series of essays from our colleague Matt McCall on the growth opportunity in autonomous vehicles. Matt covers the most significant trends in his Investment Opportunities service, and he believes that electric and autonomous vehicles offers a rare chance to build significant wealth.
New trends can make investors nervous because so much is unknown. But Matt does the research to demonstrate how a trend is going to take hold – and how his subscribers can take advantage. Today, Matt explains another great way to profit from this trend, one that doesn’t involve consumers buying these cars at all!
We will be sharing the other essays in this series with you in a special send of the Digest, and I know you’ll find them informative and entertaining.
How AVs Can Make You Rich Even if People Don’t Buy Them
By Matt McCall
We’ve talked about how autonomous vehicles (AVs) will disrupt what is already a $7 trillion industry. We’ve talked about how sales of AVs could grow 660-fold in the coming decades. And we’ve talked about ways investors can double or triple their money… or more.
But what if people don’t want to buy AVs?
Hey, if you like driving your car, with your elbow out the window and the wind in your hair…
If you like the smell of gasoline and like to change your carburetor… that’s fine.
But even if people like you and me never buy a single autonomous vehicle, investors will still get rich – for one reason.
Taxis.
Unless you are living under a rock, you know that companies like Uber and Lyft have completely disrupted the taxi and limousine business.
Early venture capital Uber investors have seen their investment grow 58,233% since 2011.
Enough to turn a $10,000 stake into $5.8 million in just seven years!
But these businesses are about to see their profits take off again…
Bloomberg says that for companies like Lyft and Uber, “Without drivers, operating margins could be… more than twice what carmakers generate right now. And that doesn’t begin to count the money to be made in delivery.”
And Goldman Sachs predicts that robo-taxis will help the ride-hailing and -sharing business grow 5,600% from $5 billion in revenue today to $285 billion by 2030.
In other words, there’s already massive existing demand…
Every self-driving car coming off the line could be snatched up by ride-sharing companies, before consumer demand is addressed.
If you study history… this isn’t a surprise.
The Second Oldest Profession
You probably are familiar with what people call “the world’s oldest profession.”
But did you know that taxis have been referred to as “the second oldest profession in the world”?
Even before the invention of the wheel allowed for the first rickshaw, people paid other people to carry them around.
In ancient Egypt and China, human powered “litters” were used.
In ancient Rome, a litter called a lectica was often use by the wealthy when they weren’t on horseback.
After the invention of the wheel, the litter was replaced by a rickshaw…
Which was replaced by horse and buggy…
Which were obviously replaced by automobiles…
In other words, even before yellow cabs and Uber, there have always been taxis.
Self-driving cars are going to be everywhere just because people will always want rides.
They are going to create as big a shift for the on-demand ride economy as Uber did, which made early venture capital investors 583 times their money.
We’ve seen how advances like smartphones and the internet have completely revolutionized almost every aspect of our life.
And this is one of the last remaining industries on earth that hasn’t caught up yet.
The way food is ordered and delivered has changed.
So has the way we shop for retail items like clothing and shoes.
Entertainment has changed. Books have changed.
And today, we are witnessing the birth of the next critical shift – the $7 trillion driverless car revolution.
Next time, we’ll talk about how an important “law” means investors make more money faster.
Sincerely,
Matt McCall
