> Because I see self-driving cars so often here that it's a non-event
No, you don't. You see cars which have a hands-free driving mode. Every single one of them still absolutely requires a driver.
I've been closely involved in automated transport for years, and the current hype cycle is getting exhausting. There are several orders of magnitude of difficulty between a car which allows drivers to take their hands off the wheel some of the time (or even most of the time), and a car which does not require a driver. We are many years, and possibly decades, away from the latter.
We are certainly still in the "Every single one of them still absolutely requires a driver." phase. Given that you've been in the automated transport field for years, and I haven't, I won't make any comments about the many years/decades timeline, except to say that, in general, the pace of technological growth in many areas has surprised me.
This could be solved by hooking the car sensor platform to a remote controlled driver for the times when hands off operation is impossible. Uber could hire their top 5% of drivers to work at at Uber HQ to be drivers on an as-needed basis. and save on 95% of their labor costs.
Google's goals, at least, are for 100% driver-free cars. Not something where you can take your hands off the wheel for 10 minutes, but one where there is no steering wheel at all. I'll let the company speak for how close they are to that, when they choose to.
No, you don't. You see cars which have a hands-free driving mode. Every single one of them still absolutely requires a driver.
I've been closely involved in automated transport for years, and the current hype cycle is getting exhausting. There are several orders of magnitude of difficulty between a car which allows drivers to take their hands off the wheel some of the time (or even most of the time), and a car which does not require a driver. We are many years, and possibly decades, away from the latter.