Uber Is Planning For A World Without Drivers - Just A Self-Driving Fleet

Uber CEO Travis Kalanick sat for a keynote interview at Code Conference this afternoon in Southern California.

During the interview, Code editor Kara Swisher asked Kalanick what he thinks of self-driving cars.

"Love it. All day long," said Kalanick.

"The reason Uber could be expensive is you're paying for the other dude in the car. When there is no other dude in the car, the cost of taking an Uber anywhere is cheaper. Even on a road trip."

Kalanick said that self-driving cars ordered up through a service like Uber will eventually bring the cost of ridership so far down that car ownership will "go away."

He said self-driving Uber fleets will also be safer and "more environmentally friendly."

Obviously lots of Uber drivers will lose their jobs over time if this vision comes to life. Kalanick is OK with that.

"It's quite a ways off," he says, "but if I were talking to one of the drivers we partner with, I'd say look: this is the way the world is going to go and if Uber didn't go that way it won't exist."

Swisher asked Kalanick if he would sell Uber to Google to be the reservation service for its self-driving cars.

Kalanick says that asking him if he would sell his company is like asking a happily married man if he wants to marry another woman. Kara pressed and said, so are you going to marry ths other woman.

Meanwhile, Uber is raising a huge pile of cash at a valuation rumored to be somewhere around $15 billion.