If the former, I think a viable model could be to eventually start selling the hardware (along with ongoing software updates, cloud services, maintenance, etc.). Let individuals across the world buy self-driving cars and run them as small businesses through whatever rideshare services they want in whatever locations they want. If there's a way, people will make the economics work. Over time, autonomous vehicle operators could eventually price human drivers out of the market on Uber and Lyft.

I see the current phrase of centrally managing all this as essentially a public beta test. Once the tech is proven and the regulatory environment is mature, the situation will change drastically. The Waymo app/network would no longer be needed at that point, unless it happened to become a big enough cash cow to be worth keeping around.