The idea never made sense to me, the car couldn't earn enough money to overcome the hassle and risk. I would never let random strangers ride in a car I owned without supervision. There would be a daily mess to clean up, often damage. What happens when a passenger does something that gets the car and owner caught up in civil forfeiture laws?
You're right, the idea is so absurd. Must be some glitch in the matrix that a business like Uber has been operating successfully for more than a decade and is currently profitable. Now imagine if the chief operating expenditure (drivers) were eliminated too. Certainly such a business would fail, of course.
The comment here is glib and against community guidelines, but it should be somewhat obvious the ability for someone to be in the car and regulate poor behavior helps.
Strangers in your (personally owned and financed) vehicle who could trash it and leave you with... no vehicle or one that is slightly damaged, would cause at the very least a headache to you, the owner, and insurance on your vehicle to rise.
Turo is proof of concept for letting strangers rent your car. The economics of all p2p short term rental is dubious and it turns into a whale hunt for "super hosts" but people do it.
