As you note, self driving taxi services are aimed primarily at urban cores.

Speaking of someone who has visited a few urban cores, I've always wondered what a self driving taxi will smell like without a human driver's presence to encourage civil behaviour.

And one heavily touted advantage of buying the "if/when available" Tesla self driving feature was that your car could be out making money while you sleep. What would your car smell like when it comes back?

At the very least, the entire interior would have to be made of hard plastic or metal like the last of the telephone booths before they went obsolete. But I think a well designed robotaxi would require something like those self-washing public washrooms in France. You leave, the door closes, it hoses itself down, then it's ready for the next customer.

I don't think interior cameras would be a sufficient deterrent...that might introduce a whole other set of interesting behaviour, and I for one would not want to watch the footage.

I'm not saying none of this will happen, or that it won't work when it does, but I think there are some finer points that may need to be worked out...

Jim