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Why do we need transit at all, then? If we have robot taxis, why wouldn't we all just have robot cars? Why force me to transfer to/from a different mode for the middle of my trip, what does that gain?
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Cost and/or speed. Under circumstances when trips can be combined at some advantage people will do that.
You want to travel to summit county. So does everyone else. But people are bidding on trips on their phones back in town and the new dynamic tolling is starting to gradually rise. Getting on the train is cheaper and faster.
Or imagine a day in downtown Denver. During most of the day, the wait times and meter cost of a robot taxi is very minimal. So you will take a private vehicle. Now it's peak hour. It's going to be a while until the next taxi comes, and with demand based pricing it may also be more expensive to get a ride. However, the system notices you and 14 other people want to travel from 15th and Lawrence to a cluster of destinations around Stapleton, and have opted for a shared vehicle instead. A minibus is dispatched instead.
It does raise the question, honestly despite the stellar investments Denver has made in transit, in a few decades does the city have the kind of demand to warrant rail capacity in an automated vehicle future? I can totally see Shanghai or New York needing their subways to handle rush hour because a swarm of robot cars that has to go into town full and come out empty and find a place to queue in the meantime seems inefficient. But Denver?
I know you are probably saying, why don't you have a private car that you own and sits in a parking spot? Well most people won't find that necessary and would like more disposable income for other things in life instead.