At least in some countries and cities getting a taxi at the right times have been a hassle, and somewhat expensive. So even if, like Uber, you can expand the marked and steal customer from traditional taxies, how much money is there really to be made? Getting the profit that currently falls to the drivers seems like a logical next step, if they want to increase their own profit.
Self-driving cars are very certainly the future of Uber, and once self-driving tech is mass-available Uber will have the same accessibility to it that Google or Tesla or whomever else does. At that point, they're competing on price and service quality, just like they do with Lyft and Sidecar right now.
I don't see self-driving tech becoming a major sticking point, because it's not like manufacturers are going to only be manufacturing self-driving cars for their own usage once the regulatory hurdles are cleared.
See some nice photos here: http://qz.com/688003/ubers-self-driving-cars-are-on-the-road...