Just read the article below that says next year they hope to have 100% self driving car tests in France .
https://apnews.com/b248a02690604d36b79719cc227d2ba3/Autonomous-cars-
(no-human-backup)-may-hit-the-road-next-year
So the question becomes when will we have fully 100% self driving cars transporting us around? From popular media accounts you'd think fairly soon. See this:
https://electrek.co/2017/02/13/tesla-elon-musk-all-new-cars-self-driving/
However, I was talking to a guy who works on self driving technology I believe for Nissan at the Olympic Trials. I asked him when we'd have 100% self driving cars. He said, "what do you mean 100%?" and I said "I can be on a laptop working... drunk in the back... it doesn't matter. Not paying attention at all, all conditions. I get where I need to be"
He said it wouldn't happen in his lifetime. He's looked to be in his 60s. We didn't talk very long but he made it sound like the .0001% conditions would be the problem. Rain, ice, some kid runs out in font of car, etc.
If a car can "self drive" but I have to pay attention as backup it's not nearly the same thing if I can work, do something else.
And that brings up a tangential point. How come all trains aren't autonomous now? That seems like a very simple problem to solve and we haven't solved it. What am I missing with trains? They're on a fixed track. Seems like conductors wouldn't be needed. Yet outside of airtrans at airports and a few subways most trains have conductors.