“The cloud” refers (or at least originally referred) to a method of storing data on servers

The cloud is more than storage. It’s also compute. It’s Web apps. It’s virtual machines. It’s all kinds of things.

what you are saying at that point is “if the internet stops working”

No one is saying that. Tesla is selling these cars so people can earn money selling taxa services. What happens if Tesla decides this wasn’t profitable anyway? They shut down the service that enables people to book the car. Can you still hail the cap? Can you make it drive if it’s not connected?

that would be a stupid business-type decision, not a technical one.

Like when Sonos decided they didn’t need to support 1st devices because they now needed to do more than they were capable of, so they just wanted to brick them (but ultimately didn’t because of massive backlash)? How long will it be in Teslas best interest to support this particular platform? What if they include a new sensor in a later model and decide that the old model isn’t relevant any longer? Will we see 1st gen cybercabs in 30 years, like we do other cars?