Could the days of car payments, parking permits, garages, and overall personal vehicle ownership be coming to an end? Such was the prediction of Travis Kalanick, the chief executive of the ride sharing service Uber, made at a recent technology conference in California.

According to a report from Australia’s Sydney Morning Herald, Kalanick expressed hopes that his business could eventually make it possible for people around the world to get by without owning cars. Already, the preponderance of taxis, buses, subways, and other public transportation has made it so people living in big cities do not necessarily feel the need to have their own vehicles. With Uber adding another new dimension to the transportation sector, that conception of cars as inessential assets could feasibly begin to take root in smaller cities and towns as well.

The concept of Uber and other ride sharing services is simple: They recruit countless freelance chauffeurs, give those chauffeurs a mobile app that helps them find customers, and then take a cut of the taxi fare. The rest of the fare goes to the chauffeurs themselves, making it possible for just about anyone with a car and a good sense of direction to make an extra couple of bucks by driving strangers to their destinations.

The description of these business models as “ride sharing” services perfectly encapsulates what Kalanick meant when he said that the days of vehicle ownership as a common thing could be numbered. Services like Uber make it possible for just about anyone to find a ride when they need one, simply by using a mobile device to hire a nearby driver. In other words, a single chauffeur can fill the transportation needs for numerous people, “sharing” the cost of his or her vehicle with those customers.

In the future, though, Kalanick says he would like Uber to develop into a driverless service, just so costs are more manageable and ride sharing costs a reasonable alternative to car ownership costs.

“The reason Uber could be expensive is because you’re not just paying for the car, you’re paying for the other dude in the car,” the CEO said at the tech conference. “So the magic there is you basically bring the cost below the cost of ownership for everybody, and then car ownership goes away.”

Now Uber just has to develop a driverless car.