I bought a new car in March 2019 that has a lot of driver assist stuff on it. One of the things it has that I have yet to even play with is Lane Keep Assist. Basically, the car sees you wandering across the line, and it nudges you back into the center of the lane. I'm not interested in delegating steering to the computer, but many new cars are basically "Drive By Wire." I do have the Lane Departure Warning turned on, which alerts me if I wander, but it takes no action. The functionality in rural areas with faded (or no) lane markers is marginal. The car also has a system that prevents you from rear-ending another car (or hitting a pedestrian), and a cruise control system that automatically speeds up & slows down with traffic, maintaining a safe following distance. Lots of other stuff that [surprisingly] I really like as an assist to my driving, but not as a replacement. Regarding fully self-driving: I first read of this in The Economist in the 1990s. The theory then (and now) is that in highly congested areas, there only needs to be about one-in-ten fully automated cars on the road in order to achieve a significant reduction in congestion. It has to do with how those 10% are programmed to react to traffic differently (they anticipate changes better) than humans do. As I said, that 10% theory has remained consistent since the outset. As others have stated, I need to be in control (and I really like driving), but in inner-city congested stop & go/low-speed situations (that I lived in for a number of years), I might not mind completely turning control over to a computer. It would be a great stress-reducer, the commute time would be more productive, and fender-bender speeds are low-risk.
Leaving more advanced driver-assistance systems that we see in new cars today aside, I wouldn't buy a self-driving car because it will take ages before is becomes an option. Too late for our generation anyway. The whole thing of autonomous driving is a deplorable and completely useless distraction from what really matters: new engines. Rather than pooling all mental and technical resources for producing badly needed alternative, mass produced engines, engineers have been kept busy messing around with autonomous driving systems that nobody needs nor wants. On the one hand, automakers and their respective sales staff in the showrooms keep emphasizing the "emotional aspects" of driving ( Buying a car is not like buying a fridge! Look at this short shift path you'll enjoy as someone with a sporty driving style! etc. pp.) and on, the other hand, they then spoil the whole enjoyment of driving by reducing you to a passenger in your own car at the extreme. I don't see a future for private self-driving cars for several decades to come. It will also take years before the 5G networks across the whole area have been set up, to which there is massive resistance but which are a necessary precondition for self-driving cars. Pilot projects don't like very promising. They remind one of rumbling mine trains.
Self driving tractor trailers seem to make a lot of sense since drivers spend long hours behind the wheel and fatigue sets in. They would still have a job and could talk to their buddies on the CB a lot more if that's how they still do it now. Hands free driving would be useful too when that bimbo at the last truck stop asks for a lift.
Self driving Car----- Patrol: Tesla Autopilot Driver Was Watching Movie, Crashed https://www.usnews.com/news/us/arti...a-autopilot-driver-was-watching-movie-crashed